HousingWorks

This page corresponds to the purple section of the Housing search and application grid.

HousingWorks is web platform that allows you to find and apply for multiple types of affordable housing. Basically, you enter a zip code and a radius (alternately, you can enter a county), check off the type of unit and features you are looking for, and search. Results can be filtered by town, key word, and degree of affordability. HousingWorks is the most comprehensive way to search for the housing types colored purple in the Housing search and application grid: federal site-based housing and private affordable housing. Because of that, it is highlighted here. There are, however, other search engines available, including:

Search results on HousingWorks include links to either actual applications or requests for applications. The applications for these various housing types will vary greatly. Federal applications tend to be very long and ask questions about immigration status (state applications do not ask about immigration status). Private affordable housing applications may be relatively short or quite long. Because of this variability, rather than giving a step by step illustration of how to apply via HousingWorks, we will give an illustration of how to search on HousingWorks and sort results. We will also provide a sample completed application for a unit in a private affordable housing development. Other types of applications available through Housing Works vary widely, but all ask questions similar to the sample application.

Topics covered on this page are:

Information and documentation needed for applications
Searching using HousingWorks
Choosing what to apply for
Completing applications
Submitting and tracking applications

Information and documentation needed for applications

In general, be prepared to provide the following information for your family member (not you):

Social security number
Gross anticipated income from all sources for the next 12 months (including amount from each source)
A back-up long term address (may be a post-office box, or a friend/family member)
Name and address of employer or source of income for all income (including benefits, trust income, gifts, alimony, child support, etc.)
Expenses (child support, alimony, unreimbursed medical expenses, child care if necessary for employment)
Assets (bank accounts, stocks, bonds, trusts, real estate), including value or balance, name of financial institution, account number
Any assets transferred or sold in last 2 years, including date, amount, and value
Make, year, and registration number of any vehicle owned (if the title is in the name of the person with a disability)
Addresses for the last five years, including the name(s) of the leaseholder(s), and the landlord’s information (name, address, phone)
Contact information for 2 references who are not family or household members, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses
Information for an emergency contact person, including name, address, phone number, and email

Your family member may also be required to attach documentation, including copies of:

Last 3 months of statements for checking accounts, savings accounts, and credit union accounts
4 consecutive pay stubs, or 2 months of pay stubs
Benefit letters from any benefit programs, giving the amount of the benefit – examples include SSI, SSDI, Social Security, EAEDC, welfare, unemployment, pension, annuity, etc. Copies of checks do not substitute for this.
Evidence of the amount of Mass. SSI supplemental payment
Net income
Lease or rent receipt
Proof of student status for those 18 or older
Court order covering alimony or child support payments
Social Security card
Alien card
IRA or Keough
Birth certificates for all household members who will live in the unit
Letter from social services agency assisting with your family member’s support
Statement from family members assisting with your family member’s support
Other, as stipulated, which can include:
- A CORI form
- A proof of disability form to be filled out by a doctor
- A release of information form

Searching using HousingWorks

Throughout this exercise, click on any images you wish to enlarge, then click the back button on your browser to return to this page.

Begin by going to http://www.housingworks.net. Click the button that says “Search for housing.”

Proceed to Step 1 and read the advice:

Select either Zip Code or County in the field above [the first drop down menu], then type in the zip code or county.
It’s better to do a ‘Zip Code Search’, unless you live in a long, narrow county, or one surrounded by water.
Do not use the zip code of a P.O. Box Office for your search. It will not produce any results.
if you do search by County, type the county and state names exactly like this example: “Dukes, MA”.
A five-mile search means, “Search a 5-mile diameter circle around the very center of the zip code”.
Selecting “Anywhere” currently means “search anywhere in New England”.

Proceed to Step 2, and read the advice:

Check boxes for what you WANT, not for what you HAVE, for example: don’t search for a voucher if you already have one.
If you want to apply for vouchers, you must check the voucher boxes in both Steps 2 and 3.

Some additional thoughts:

If you have already applied for portable Section 8, but wish to apply for site-based Section 8, make sure you check the box “Voucher – Section 8”.
“SRO” stands for Single Room Occupancy. Residents have their own room with a lock on the door, but usually share bathrooms and cooking facilities.

Proceed to Step 3 and read the advice:

Everyone should check the box: “Individual or HHs [households] of two or more”.
Check as many boxes as seems appropriate: the more boxes you can check, the more housing you will find.
If you have any disability (excluding Substance Use), be sure to check the wheelchair box.

Additional thoughts:

Check off the box “Wheelchair Users/Households with Other Disabilities/HHs needing No Steps”.
If you have already applied for portable Section 8, but wish to apply for site-based Section 8, check off the box “Voucher – Section 8”.
Decide if you want to check off the box “Congregate Housing Opportunities”. This generally means sharing a home with other people with disabilities.
If your family member is served by the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) or the Department of Mental Health (DMH), make sure you check the box “Set Asides for Clients of State Agencies/Special Needs.
Decide if you want to check off the boxes “Permanent Housing-Disability (live-in services)” and/or “Permanent Housing-Disability (visiting services)”.
“Group Home for Behavioral or Developmental Disability” is generally an option only if you have been prioritized for a group home by DDS or DMH.

(The image below has been edited to show all options in a more legible size)

Proceed to Step 4 and read the advice:

If you don’t have a voucher, pick “Subsidized”. This will narrow the results to housing where you pay a percentage of your income as rent.
If you have a voucher, pick “Affordable”. This will narrow the results to places you can use a voucher.

Additional thoughts:

If the person’s income is above 50% of Area Median Income (including any amount they might receive regularly from you), select “Affordable”. (Be aware providing your family member with funds may affect their government benefits. A possible exception is an ABLE account, but please check with a financial advisor. Nothing here constitutes financial advice.)

Click “Search”. Depending on how big a geographic area you selected, and how many options you checked, it may take several minutes for the results to appear.

Click “List open since at least” and let the page reload. Now do it again. You should now have the most recent listings first.

Let’s look at some of the results from a sample search with a radius of 5 miles around Melrose to understand what we are looking at. (Bear in mind you might get different results conducting a similar search, depending on the date of the search and what boxes you checked.) Looking at the first column (“Waitlist”), we see examples of site-based federal (1 BR 30% AMI Sec. 8 PBV [project-based vouchers]), and private affordable housing (1 bedroom family/individual 50%). The second column (“Program”) has clickable links where we can learn more about the property and the landlord. The fourth column (“Address”) may be the address of the property or it may be the address of the landlord. The fifth column (“Comments”) tells us important information, such as the length of the application or if the application needs to be printed on legal size paper. If the Comments column mentions applying via the CHAMP, we can skip over it if we have already completed the CHAMP application. The column “Status” gives a link to the application or a request for application, and tells us if the waiting list is closed. “Priorities” provides an idea of who is most likely to be selected from a waiting list. “Open since at least” tells us HousingWorks’ best estimate of how long the list has been open or when they last knew it to be open. “Update this info” is a link to update HousingWorks if you discover something is inaccurate. “Photo” is usually a photo of the property, but sometimes may be a photo of the offices of the local housing authority. “Short WL or vacancy” tells us if the waiting list is short or if there is a vacant unit.

Choosing what to apply for

In selecting what you wish to apply for, bear in mind that many applications are quite long. A good strategy is:

Pick two or three things your family member hasn’t already applied for; if they have already applied to the Section 8 portable waiting lists or used the CHAMP application, don’t duplicate your efforts.
Pick things your family member meets the priorities for.
Make sure they can afford it; for example, don’t apply for 80% AMI units if your family member’s only income is SSI.
Consider location and transportation.
Do not apply for things your family member is not willing to take.

Completing applications

Applications on HousingWorks tend to be quite long. When your family member applied for portable Section 8, you may have noticed that both the EOHLC and Centralized Waiting List forms were labeled “pre-application”. That is why they were relatively short. Full housing applications are quite long. (When your family member gets to the top of the Section 8 waiting list, you will find they need to fill out a much longer form, similar to many of the ones on HousingWorks.)

Because HousingWorks applications are for all sorts of housing, including site-based federal housing and private affordable housing, they are not at all uniform. But all housing applications tend to ask the same questions. To give an example of how to fill them out, it’s helpful to look at an application for a unit in private affordable housing, filled out for a hypothetical applicant, Anita Martinez. We will break the application down, line by line, here. Anita’s father, Rafael is filling out the application, which she will sign. Anita currently lives at home with her family.

The first section addresses contact information and the reason for applying.
- Site: This is the name of the building
- Name 1: Rafael lists Anita’s name and Social Security number as she will be the head of household.
- Name 2: Rafael writes N/A, as Anita will be the only member of the household.
- Address: He writes the home address, as Anita is living at home
- Address: On this second address line, he writes N/A, as the mailing address is the same as the home address.
- Resided since: He writes the date they moved in.
- (1) Home tel and Mobile tel: He uses the landline and his cell phone as Anita will not consistently answer the phone.
- (2) Home tel and Mobile tel: He lists the same landline and Anita’s mother’s cell phone.
- Reason for applying at this development?: He writes “to live independently” as Anita will be moving out and forming a new household.
- How did you hear about this development?: He writes www.housingworks.net.
The next section is about housing history.
- Present Landlord: Rafael owns his home, so he is listed as Anita’s current landlord. He provides his phone number and the home address. Had Rafael been renting, he would have listed the landlord’s contact number and address.
- Is the apartment rented to you?: Rafael answers no, as Anita is not living in an apartment, but in her bedroom. He explains Anita is living with her parents, who own the home. Had Rafael been renting, he would have answered no, and explained she is living with her parents, who rent the home.
- Are you presently under lease? Rafael answers no, because he has not executed a lease with Anita, although it is not a bad idea for a parent to execute a lease with an adult child, as it helps to establish a rental payment history. A boilerplate lease agreement is available here.
- Reason for leaving: Rafael writes, “To live independently”.
- Amount of rent per month: Rafael writes $100, as he has been charging Anita this much in rent. He has actually been contributing her payments to an ABLE account, so that she will have funds available for a security deposit when she gets an apartment. (Rafael has discussed the tax implications of charging Anita rent with an accountant.)
- No. of Bedrooms: Rafael writes 1, as Anita is only renting the one bedroom.
- No. of Occupants: Rafael writes 1, as Anita is the only occupant of her bedroom.
- Do you usually pay rent in a timely manner? Rafael writes yes.
- Did you receive any notice of termination of tenancy? Rafael writes No.
- Previous Landlord: Rafael writes N/A as they have been living in their home for over 5 years. In general, landlords are looking for a five-year housing history with no gaps. If someone has been homeless, it is important to try to list everywhere they stayed, whether in a motel, with friends, or sleeping rough.
The next section asks some additional questions about housing history.
- Please provide list of all states in which any household member has resided: Anita is the only member of the household for the purpose of this application, so Rafael only lists states where she has lived.
- Add Landlord Address if you lived at any of the above for a total of less than seven (7) years.
- Previous apartment address: Rafael lists an apartment they rented in New Hampshire when Anita was a small child.
- Landlord Name: He lists the name of the New Hampshire landlord.
- Landlord Address: He lists the landlord address in New Hampshire.
- Why did you leave this apartment?: Writing from Anita’s perspective, Rafael states, “My parents bought a house in Massachusetts.”
- Did you ever receive any notices of termination of tenancy while at this apartment?: Rafael checks off no.
- Did you ever receive any notices of termination of tenancy while at this apartment?: Rafael writes N/A.
The next section asks about members of the household.
- Anita is the only member of the new household, so only she is listed. If Anita had needed a live-in aide, Rafael would have listed the aide on the second line, along with the fact that the aide has not been identified. NOTE: an aide’s income and assets are not relevant, provide the aide is not a close family member. This means neither Anita’s parents or siblings could be a live-in aide. If they were, their income and assets would be considered in determining eligibility for housing and the rent amount.
The next section asks about employment of adults in the household.
- Anita is the only member of the household being formed, so only her employment is listed.
- Wages refers to gross wages (before taxes are taken out), not take-home pay.
The next section asks about other sources of income for all household members.
- Anita is the only member of the household being formed, so only her additional sources of income are listed.
- Rafael lists the federal portion of her SSI payment on the SSI line, but he lists the state portion on the “Other Income” line and specifies that it is from the Massachusetts State Supplement Program.
The next section asks for the name of two relatives who don’t live with the applicant.
- These will be used as character references.
- Rafael lists Anita’s aunt and uncle.
The next section asks about assets
- The question only refers to Anita’s assets.
- Note that, unlike a pre-application for Section 8, this application actually asks for balances and account numbers.
- Rafael lists the balance in Anita’s checking account. He writes in that it is a rep. payee account (representative payee for government benefits). This is Anita’s only bank account.
- Anita also has a savings bond her grandmother gave her, so Raphael lists that.
- Anita also has an ABLE account, which is like a 529 college savings about, but is for disability-related expenses. Rafael writes in that it is not a countable resource. It is important that the landlord know about it, but not actually consider it as a countable asset.
The next section asks about credit history.
- The question only applies to Anita’s credit history.
- Rafael has made sure that Anita has a good credit history because that is critical when renting an apartment. To make sure Anita did not get into trouble with a credit card, he got Anita a secured credit card. This is a credit card where the holder puts down cash up front with the credit card company. The amount put down is now the person’s credit limit. Anita only uses her card to buy gas to go to work, and she pays it off in full every month. As a result, she has a very good credit score.
The next section is about expenses.
- The question only refers to Anita’s expenses.
- Anita has none of the expenses the question asks about.
The next section is “Additional Information“. Much of this information impacts how a landlord sees a future tenant.
- All questions in this section pertain to Anita only, including her criminal and financial history, and what items she might bring with her.
  - Please note that it is almost impossible to gain access to public or affordable housing in Massachusetts if one is a sex offender. This underscores the importance of skills training for youth with disabilities, to make sure they do not inadvertently engage in illegal sexual conduct.
  - Fraud in public and affordable housing includes understating income and/or assets.
- Please note that, while Anita will be bringing a car with her, her name is not on the title, so it is not considered an asset.
The final section that Rafael needs to fill out is labeled “Equal Opportunity/Fair Housing Information“. It actually comprises four parts:
- A request for demographic information (ethnicity and race), which is used to confirm the landlord is complying with the Fair Housing Act.
- A section certifying that the applicant understands that:
  - This is not an offer of housing.
  - The applicant will need to document information.
  - The applicant authorizes the housing authority to verify information.
  - The applicant understands a criminal records check will be conducted.
- A place to request the landlord send the applicant a form to apply for reasonable accommodations.
  - Rafael checks this box, as he knows Anita will needs accommodations.
- A signature line.
  - Rafael has Anita sign the application. Alternatively, since he is her guardian, he could sign his name and print “Rafael Martinez, guardian for Anita Martinez”, and enclose a copy of the guardianship letter.
There is one additional section, labeled “For Market Use Only“.
- There are market rate apartments in the building, but Anita is applying for an affordable unit, not a market rate unit. Rafael leaves this section blank.
Bear in mind the application we just went through is included only as an example of how to fill out an application. You will see a wide variety of applications on HousingWorks. Some common questions not included in this application relate to:
- Medical expenses
  - In some housing situations, medical expenses are considered in calculating someone’s net income for the purposes of calculating how much rent they should be paying. In such situations, if a family member is paying medical expenses for a person (for example, paying a therapist who does not accept insurance), that amount should be listed under expenses, but a matching amount should also be listed under income, as it is in-kind support.
- Criminal history, aside from being a sex offender.
  - Please note that those with sealed records may answer “No” to questions about criminal history.

Submitting and tracking applications.

When you print the application, there is usually a HousingWorks cover sheet that prints first. It provides the address to which you will mail the application (or request for application).
A second sheet, for HousingWorks use, asks you to provide a summary of basic information. Make sure you complete this, and also fill in the bubbles next to the questions. The bubbles are there to make sure you don’t skip answering anything. (Due to copyright restrictions, this sheet is not shown on this website.)
It is a good idea to make a photocopy of applications for your files. However, make sure you submit the original, not the photocopy.
You may choose to submit the application in person or by mail.
- If you submit it in person, ask them to review the application for completeness, and to give you a written receipt. This might take the form of them time stamping your photocopy and giving it back to you.
- If you mail the application, it is a good idea to physically go to the post office and mail the application “certified mail, return receipt requested”. That way, you will be able to track it and ensure it was received.
Please review the section “Remaining on the list” on the “Application tips and tricks” page.
- In particular, consider tracking your applications using the spreadsheet available in the Document Library.

(Please note that nothing on this website is intended as legal advice, there is no guarantee the information provided is accurate, and using the information provided does not guarantee one will receive a housing voucher or rental unit. For a complete legal disclaimer, please click here.)

Information and documentation needed for applications

Searching using HousingWorks

Choosing what to apply for

Completing applications

Submitting and tracking applications.

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