Being a Chicago property manager that focuses on the south side of Chicago means we deal a lot with the Chicago Housing Authority. After filling out moving papers for the tenant and submitting them, and going through the inspection and passing HSQ standards, CHA sends you a rent offer. This whole process can take 30 to sometimes 90 days, so to get this far to find out you're not going to get the housing assistance payment that you were expecting can be a huge blow. So let's break down the 3 factors that are used to determine the voucher holder’s rent amount for your unit.
Voucher Holder Affordability
In Chicago, there is no such thing as standard amounts paid out for the housing choice voucher program; the Chicago Housing Authority treats each tenant and apartment as a unique situation. The first hurdle is whether your tenant can afford the unit, which takes into consideration a few components. The first is the voucher size. Generally speaking, the number of bedrooms a voucher holder is eligible for is equal to one room per every heartbeat. This means a mother and her son will get a one bedroom voucher, but if she has two sons they will receive a two bedroom voucher. We often will see HUD allow for an exception to this for instances where, like above, a mother has only one son who is 12 but it would not be seen as normal for a 12 year old boy to sleep in the same room as his mother. With that being said, these exceptions have been getting rolled back in 2026 as the HUD director has given CHA and Cook County housing less money to pay for the housing choice voucher program. The second part of the voucher holder's affordability is the household's monthly income. Low-income families are allowed to use up to 30% of their income to pay for housing, so if you ask for $1,000 rent, but the voucher only covers $700, as long as the tenant makes more than $900 a month, they can pay the remaining $300. CHA provides an affordability calculator in your owners' portal that will tell you what your tenant can afford.
Comparable Properties
The second part that goes into determining gross rent that the program participants can pay is the comparables. CHA uses affordablehousing.com to pull comparable units to compare your unit to when they determine what they will pay in rent. This means they are looking at the local market down to the block, not just by zip code. They are comparing housing opportunities for how nice they are and the bedroom size and count. One thing to keep in mind is that if you have a 3-bedroom home but the tenant has a 2-bedroom voucher, they will use only a 2-bedroom comparable, even though your home is a 3-bedroom. They are also not including any public housing units or any homes that are considered affordable housing, meaning they are only looking at and comparing to market rented units near your rental. Take a look at the video on how to upload comps to the site. It may help build a case for your rent amount.
Utility Allowances
The more you pay for utilities, the more rent you can get. For every utility you decide to have the tenant pay, there is a corresponding amount on the utility allowance schedule. The schedule takes into account things like bedroom count, and if you are renting single-family homes or multi-family homes. If you click the link above, you can see how much your rent will get decreased by each utility you ask the tenant to pay.
Can the tenant make up the difference?
The tenant paying more than the Housing Authority deems them able to pay is strictly against HUD guidelines and constitutes fraud under federal law. Not only can you lose the ability to rent to voucher holders, but the voucher holder could lose their voucher.
Do I have to accept the rent amount?
There is often talk about the complaint of discrimination and fair housing rules when it comes to CHA and the rent offer. If CHA offers you the rent amount that you ask for, you cannot deny a voucher holder for credit score or income, but you are perfectly ok to deny based on the rent offer.
Learn more about renting to section 8 in Chicagoland.
Have a home in Cook County that's not in the city limits? Believe it or not, the process is completely different. Take a look at Cook County housing payment standards here.
