By Leah Nelson
The Razorback Reporter
The Fayetteville Housing Authority has four buildings which helps house people who need assistance with finding an affordable place to rent.
The housing authority has three programs with 878 rental units for people with low income and is on a first come, first serve bases.
The Fayetteville Housing Authority has a few veterans living in their four buildings but they’re either elderly or have a disability. Most veterans the housing authority helps are in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Veterans Association Supportive Housing program.
The VA provides veterans with health care, mental health care and substance use counseling to help them in their recovery process and their ability to maintain housing in the community, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website.
The program is for homeless veterans who are brought to the housing authority by the VA after the veterans’ case has been handled.
“They provide the supportive and we provide the housing,” said Joy Hunnicutt, the section 8 housing specialist at the Fayetteville Housing Authority.
Veterans work with case managers from the VA to help them pick a place to live if they meet certain requirements. If they are a registered sex offender they are not eligible for the program. The Fayetteville Housing Authority houses 112 veterans through HUD VASH vouchers, Hunnicutt said.
Case managers help veterans with their problems and get jobs, so they eventually earn a high enough income and they do not need to be in the affordable housing system anymore.
“Income isn’t initially an issue but veterans eventually go off the program because their income exceeds our maximum, low income requirement,” said Deniece Smiley the director of the Fayetteville Housing Authority.
The veterans have 120 days to use the voucher from the housing authority in order to receive an affordable housing rental. It takes veterans about one to two months to find a suitable one-bedroom apartment but they usually find a place quickly, Hunnicutt said.
“The difficult thing is that every veteran has a different situation they’re going through, so the time frame is different as well,” Hunnicutt said.