Starting December 27, people who live in a rural Nevada county, which is every county besides Washoe and Clark, can sign up for a housing voucher from the Nevada Rural Housing Authority to help cover rent costs.
The NRHA compiles a waiting list long enough to cover about two years of vouchers before it closes.
"And once that list is exhausted we open that list back up which is what we did today," Executive Director for NRHA says. "And then that will stay open until further notice, until we get several thousand people on there and then we'll close it again."
Every year the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awards vouchers to housing authorities across the country, and the housing authorities distribute them to residents. The NRHA has gotten 1,393 each for the last several years.
"[Housing and Urban Development] has not increased those numbers over the years so our ability to help people has been flat while demand continues to grow."
Brewer says more people are moving to rural areas which does increase demand and rent, but the bigger problem is the lack of housing.
"Unfortunately for every 100 names we pull off the waiting list only about 30 people will find a place to rest," Brewer says. "Just because there's not enough places out there."
"What I've seen lately is that people are receiving their vouchers, but the housing availability is just not out there," Brenda Corder, receptionist for the NRHA, says.
Corder first came in contact with the NRHA eight years ago to apply for a voucher. After being on the wait list for about two years, she was given a voucher. Corder is a single mom with two children, and before she was awarded the voucher, she was forced to live with family and friends.
"Finding somewhere to live on one income is kind of impossible nowadays," Corder says.
Basically, Corder pays 30 percent of her income towards rent, and the voucher from the NRHA covers the difference. That "gap" filled by the voucher is enough for Corder to have her own place while she raises her two children, and it allows her to give them a better quality of life.
"We can afford to have the smallest things, you know?" Corder says. "Like having internet or cable television. Being able to afford to do things."
To learn more about the voucher and to sign up, visit here.
For residents in Washoe County, you can contact the Reno Housing Authority here.
For Clark County residents, you can contact the Southern Regional Housing Authority here.
