St. Louis Section 8 Is Closed, and the Reopening Will Run in the Newspaper
Revised October 23, 2026
How does Section 8 work in St. Louis and how do I apply?
A Housing Choice Voucher pays part of your rent straight to a private landlord, and you usually pay about 30% of your adjusted income. In the City of St. Louis, applications go through the St. Louis Housing Authority’s online RentCafe portal, and today its voucher list is closed until further notice. Sign up for alerts, watch the newspaper, and apply the first day it opens.
Keep reading ↓Who hears first when the St. Louis Section 8 list reopens? Whoever still reads the newspaper. The St. Louis Housing Authority says open waitlists “will be disclosed via phone, our website, and local newspapers.” Not a text alert. Not an app. The paper, the one your aunt still unfolds next to a cup of coffee going cold. Tell her to call you.
Is the list open right now? No. SLHA’s own Housing Choice Voucher page says it in one line, and it said the same thing when we checked it today: “The HCV waitlist is currently closed and not accepting applications until further notice.” If you have been refreshing that page on a cracked phone screen at the kitchen table, thumb hovering, hoping this is the night it changes, you are not doing anything wrong. The list is simply shut. To ask about an application you already sent, SLHA’s number is 314-531-4770.
On the county side, the Housing Authority of St. Louis County promises something more useful still: it posts reopenings on its website, social media, partner agencies and in the newspaper 30 days in advance, and its waitlist page has an email sign-up that tells you when either list reopens. Two minutes on that form today could be the whole head start. The county’s main line is (314) 428-3200. This page covers the rest of what you need before that day comes: what you would pay, why your ZIP code sets what the voucher is worth, who qualifies, and what to do while the list stays closed.
How does Section 8 work in St. Louis and how do I apply?
A Housing Choice Voucher pays part of your rent straight to a private landlord, and you usually pay about 30% of your adjusted income. In the City of St. Louis, applications go through the St. Louis Housing Authority’s online RentCafe portal, and today its voucher list is closed until further notice. Sign up for alerts, watch the newspaper, and apply the first day it opens.
Your ZIP code decides what the voucher is worth
This is the fact that surprises people, and it is worth saying out loud to anyone you know on a list. HUD does not give St. Louis one voucher price. Its fair market rent page for the region says: “All Housing Choice Voucher programs operated in the St. Louis, MO-IL HUD Metro FMR Area will use Small Area FMRs as defined by ZIP Codes.” Same voucher, same family, different street, different number.
Look at the two-bedroom column. HUD’s fair market rent is $990 in 63106, the ZIP where SLHA’s own office sits on Page Boulevard, and $1,730 in 63105. That is a $740 gap for the same two bedrooms. These are HUD’s benchmarks, not a promise of what the housing authority will pay, and they are adjusted each year. But they tell you why a landlord in one neighborhood says yes and one across town says the rent is too high. When you get a voucher, ask for the limit in the exact ZIP you want before you fall in love with a porch.
How much rent will I pay on Section 8?
Your share is not a flat fee. Federal rules set your total tenant payment as the highest of a few amounts, starting with “30 percent of the family’s monthly adjusted income” and “10 percent of the family’s monthly income.” If your adjusted income is $1,500 a month, 30% of that is $450. The voucher covers the rest, up to the limit.
There is one guardrail worth knowing before you sign anything. When you first rent a place and its gross rent is above the payment standard, federal rules say your share must not exceed 40 percent of your adjusted monthly income. That rule is what stops a pretty apartment from quietly eating your grocery money. If the numbers on the paper make your stomach drop, that is your signal to keep looking.
Who qualifies for Section 8 in Missouri?
SLHA posts its income chart on its own income limits page. Right now it lists $39,750 for a one-person household and $56,750 for a family of four, and those figures are adjusted each year when HUD publishes new limits. Income is the gate, but not the only one. County Housing says eligibility typically includes income, family size, and U.S. citizenship or eligible immigration status.
The program is also built to reach the lowest incomes first. Federal rules say not less than 75 percent of the families a housing authority admits to its voucher program from the waiting list in a year must be extremely low income. So if your paycheck feels impossibly small next to your rent, you are exactly who the program was written for.
When the list opens, the first day counts
An older version of this page told you selection was a lottery and speed did not matter. SLHA’s own Apply for Housing page says otherwise. When funding is available, applications are selected based on preferences, and “Applications resulting in a tie in preferences will be sorted on the waiting list in date and time order.” Ties go to whoever applied earlier. Apply on day one.
Applications go online through SLHA’s RentCafe portal, and each household may apply only once. You get a confirmation number; write it on paper and tape it inside the folder where you keep every letter, because a phone dies and a screenshot gets lost. Applying through SLHA is always free. If a disability or another hardship keeps you from applying online, SLHA offers paper applications through its reasonable accommodation process at 314-531-4770 (TDD 314-286-4223).
After you apply, the paperwork is on you. SLHA says you must report changes to your name, address, phone, email, income or family size within 10 business days. County Housing warns that failing to report changes may get you removed from the waitlist. Moving in with your sister? Tell SLHA that week.
Do one thing tonight: get on the alert lists. Sign up for County Housing’s waitlist email, bookmark the SLHA voucher page, and dial 2-1-1 for rent help while you wait. Our St. Louis help and assistance hub gathers food, housing and emergency support in one place.
If you run a building that rents to voucher holders, or a nonprofit that walks families through the application, the people reading this page are looking for you right now. List it on St Louis Near Me Directory so renters on a long wait have one more door to knock on, and you get more customers.
City, county or the Illinois side: one list does not cover all three
Apply to the authority for the place you actually live. Getting this wrong means waiting on a list that cannot help you.
City of St. Louis: the St. Louis Housing Authority, 3520 Page Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63106, phone 314-531-4770. To check whether an application you already sent was received, SLHA says to call that number.
St. Louis County: the Housing Authority of St. Louis County, 8865 Natural Bridge, St. Louis, MO 63121, phone (314) 428-3200. It keeps two lists, one for public housing and one for vouchers, and says it has no exact date for reopening.
Illinois side of the river: apply through the Illinois housing authority that serves your town. The rules on rent and eligibility are federal, so most of this page still applies.
If you already hold a voucher and want to move outside SLHA’s area, its page notes the agency bills for portability. Ask before you sign a lease across the county line.
What can stop an application cold
Most denials come down to income or paperwork. A few are absolute. Federal rules require housing authorities to refuse admission if anyone in the household is subject to a lifetime sex offender registration requirement, or has ever been convicted of manufacturing or producing methamphetamine on the premises of federally assisted housing. Other history is screened case by case under each authority’s policy, so tell the truth on the form. SLHA’s fraud warning is blunt: signing a form you know is false is fraud.
And guard your wallet. County Housing posts its own warning to beware of online scams about the voucher waitlist. SLHA says applying is always free, so anyone asking for a fee, a gift card or a wire to “move you up” is lying. Hang up, then call the number printed on the agency’s own site.
The day the voucher arrives, a clock starts
Getting picked is the start of a search, not the end of one. Federal rules say a voucher’s first term must be at least 60 calendar days, and the housing authority may grant extensions. You find the place yourself. SLHA’s page puts it simply: the family is responsible for finding housing where the owner agrees to rent under the program, and SLHA then pays a portion of the rent each month directly to the property owner.
Start calling landlords the same week the envelope comes. Walk the unit with the voucher’s ZIP limit in your pocket, open the windows, run the tap, look under the sink. The place still has to pass the authority’s inspection before the lease is approved. And once you are in, SLHA runs a Bridge to Homeownership program that helps voucher families use their FSS escrow savings toward a mortgage, so the voucher can be a first step, not the last stop.
Can’t wait years for a voucher? Some St. Louis apartments take income-based applications directly. Here is how to find a low-income apartment without the voucher list.
While the list stays closed
Do not hang your whole year on one list. The wait is long and nobody can tell you how long, so the families who get housed soonest are usually the ones with four or five irons in the fire at once, each with its own folder and its own reminder on the fridge. Stack your options:
Call 2-1-1. United Way 211 of Missouri and Illinois is a 24/7 connection to resources and agencies near you: dial 211 or 1-800-427-4626 and a trained resource specialist picks up.
Look at income-based buildings. Many properties set rent by income without a voucher. See our guides to income-based housing and low-income housing in St. Louis.
Facing eviction? Do not wait on Section 8. Start with emergency rent assistance in St. Louis.
Searching in North County? Get a feel for the area around Black Jack with our Black Jack dining guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the St. Louis Section 8 waiting list open?
No. The St. Louis Housing Authority’s voucher page says the HCV waitlist is currently closed and not accepting applications until further notice. SLHA says open waitlists will be announced by phone, on its website and in local newspapers. County Housing’s waitlist page lets you register to receive an email when either of its waitlists reopens.
How do I apply for Section 8 housing in St. Louis?
City residents apply online through SLHA’s RentCafe portal while the list is open; each household may apply once, and applying is free. Paper applications are available as a reasonable accommodation at 314-531-4770. On the county side, County Housing says that when a waitlist opens you can apply online through the RentCafe portal.
How much rent will I pay on Section 8?
Usually the highest of 30% of your monthly adjusted income or 10% of your monthly income. When you first rent a unit priced above the payment standard, your share cannot exceed 40% of your adjusted monthly income.
How much is a 2 bedroom Section 8 voucher in Missouri?
In the St. Louis area it depends on your ZIP code, because HUD uses Small Area Fair Market Rents here. HUD’s two-bedroom fair market rent is $990 in 63106 and $1,730 in 63105. Ask the housing authority for its payment standard in the ZIP you want; the figures are adjusted each year.
How long is the waiting list for Section 8 in Missouri?
I could not find a published wait time from either agency. County Housing says waiting time varies with program availability and the number of applicants, and SLHA’s list is closed until further notice. Use the wait to get on every list you qualify for and to look at income-based apartments.
What disqualifies you from Section 8?
Income above the limit is the most common reason. Federal rules also require a denial if a household member is subject to lifetime sex offender registration or was convicted of making methamphetamine in federally assisted housing. False information on the application is fraud.
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.