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Wisconsin Housing Choice Voucher program and public housing authorities

Wisconsin runs the Housing Choice Voucher program — still commonly called Section 8 — through more than 90 local public housing authorities (PHAs) plus a statewide program operated by WHEDA in the counties that have no local PHA. A voucher covers the gap between roughly 30% of your adjusted monthly income and the rent on a unit you rent from a private landlord (within limits the PHA sets). You apply through the PHA (which are listed below) that covers the city or county where you want to live.

Expect a wait. Most of Wisconsin's larger PHAs keep their tenant-based voucher lists closed most of the time and only reopen for brief windows — sometimes a single day, usually by lottery rather than first-come, first-served. Even when a list is open, the wait after you are selected is commonly 12 to 36 months. Public housing (PHA-owned apartments, rent set at 30% of income) is a separate program with its own list, and in several cities public housing lists are open when voucher lists are not. If you are looking for general rent payment help, see the page to rental assistance programs in Wisconsin.

Tenant-based vs. project-based vouchers

Both types exist across Wisconsin, and the distinction matters when you apply.

• A tenant-based voucher goes to you. You take it to any landlord in the PHA's jurisdiction who is willing to accept it and whose unit meets HUD's inspection standards. After 12 months, most tenant-based vouchers can be "ported" — transferred to a different PHA if you move out of the area.
• A project-based voucher is tied to a specific apartment building. You apply to that building's waitlist, and the subsidy stays with the unit. If you move out, you lose the subsidy — though after one year of tenancy you can often request a tenant-based voucher from the PHA if one is available. Project-based lists are frequently open in Wisconsin when the broader tenant-based lists are closed, so if you need housing urgently it is worth checking them.

Source-of-income protection in Wisconsin: read this before you apply

This is one of the most important things to understand before you start looking for a unit in Wisconsin. Most states either protect voucher holders from landlord discrimination or they don't. Wisconsin is more complicated.

Across most of Wisconsin, a landlord can legally refuse to rent to you because you have a voucher, and there is nothing the state will do about it. Several cities and two counties have passed local ordinances that close this gap. In these jurisdictions, refusing a voucher holder is illegal and you can file a complaint with the local civil rights or fair housing office:

• City of Madison
• City of Milwaukee
• Milwaukee County
• Dane County
• City of Green Bay
• City of Appleton
• City of De Pere
• City of Oshkosh

If you are renting anywhere else in Wisconsin, assume some landlords will decline your voucher on its face. Budget extra time in your housing search, and ask your PHA if it keeps a list of landlords who have worked with voucher holders before. The Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council (call 1-877-647-3247 -  website: https://www.fairhousingwisconsin.com/) handles fair-housing complaints and can help with testing and enforcement where local protections exist.

Statewide programs beyond local PHAs

WHEDA (Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority). 908 E Main Street, Madison, WI 53703. Madison office: (608) 266-7884. Milwaukee office: (414) 227-4039. website: https://www.wheda.com/. WHEDA runs the Housing Choice Voucher program in the 48 Wisconsin counties that don't have a local voucher PHA. It contracts with agents — most visibly Integrated Community Solutions (ICS) in Green Bay ( https://www.ics-gb.org) — to handle applications, inspections, and recertifications.

It runs the state's Section 811 Project Rental Assistance program for non-elderly people with disabilities. WHEDA is also the agency that allocates the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC / Section 42) in Wisconsin — that's a separate program with income-based rents, not a voucher, and you apply directly to each property. WHEDA's tenant concern hotline for complaints about federally subsidized properties is 1-800-943-9430.

USDA Rural Development. USDA runs the Section 515 and Section 521 programs — multifamily rental properties with project-based subsidies in rural Wisconsin communities (populations generally under 20,000). These are separate from Section 8 vouchers and you apply through the individual property. The Wisconsin USDA Rural Development state office is in Stevens Point (website: https://www.rd.usda.gov/wi) and the Madison-area office can direct you to your nearest service center.

WIHousingSearch.org. Maintained by WHEDA in partnership with the state, this is the closest thing Wisconsin has to a single searchable list of affordable units. Multilingual call center: 1-877-428-8844, Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–7 p.m. Central. See https://wihousingsearch.org/.

Foundation for Rural Housing. Statewide except in Milwaukee, Dane, and Racine counties. Runs emergency rental, security deposit, and utility assistance for low-income Wisconsin residents. (608) 238-3448.

Major PHAs in Wisconsin

The following housing authorities administer the largest voucher or public-housing programs in the state. Verify current waitlist status before applying — Wisconsin's major voucher lists move between open and closed on short notice.

Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee (HACM). 809 North Broadway, Milwaukee, WI 53202. (414) 286-5678. https://www.hacm.org/ The Housing Choice Voucher office is at 5011 W. Lisbon Avenue, (414) 286-5650. HACM is by far the largest PHA in Wisconsin — it serves more than 11,000 households plus a large public-housing portfolio. All applications are submitted at waitlist.hacm.org. Because Milwaukee is one of the jurisdictions with a local source-of-income ordinance, landlords within the city cannot legally refuse a voucher on that basis alone.

Milwaukee County Housing Division (DHHS). (414) 289-6542. https://county.milwaukee.gov/EN/DHHS/Housing. The County Housing Division administers roughly 2,100 vouchers for people living in the suburbs and unincorporated parts of Milwaukee County — everywhere except the City of Milwaukee itself, which has its own authority (HACM). The County's voucher waitlist is rarely open. The County also operates a home repair loan program for owner-occupants in the suburban communities.

Community Development Authority of the City of Madison (CDA). 215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, Suite 161, Madison, WI 53703. (608) 266-4675. https://www.cityofmadison.com/dpced/housing. Administers roughly 2,100 Housing Choice Vouchers plus about several hundred public-housing units inside Madison's city limits. The CDA uses a lottery when it opens its voucher list. Public housing and some project-based lists at specific CDA properties do open from time to time; check the CDA Applicant Portal. The average wait between lottery selection and a voucher offer has been running about 28 months.

Dane County Housing Authority (DCHA). 2917 International Lane, Suite 201, Madison, WI 53704. (608) 224-3636. https://www.dcha.net/. DCHA covers all of Dane County except the City of Madison — if you want a voucher usable in Madison itself, you apply to the CDA (above). DCHA does accept portability transfers and administers several special-purpose voucher programs (Valor for veterans, VASH through the VA) that have different application routes.

Brown County Housing Authority (BCHA). 417 S. Monroe Avenue, Suite 102, Green Bay, WI 54301. [email protected]. bchousingauthority.org. The City of Green Bay's local ordinance makes source-of-income discrimination illegal within city limits.

Green Bay Housing Authority (GBHA). Mason Manor, 100 N Jefferson Street, Green Bay, WI 54301. (920) 492-3790. https://www.greenbaywi.gov/552/Housing-Services. The City of Green Bay's authority is frequently confused with BCHA, but they do different things. GBHA is primarily a landlord — it owns and manages elderly high-rises and dozens of scattered single-family homes rented to income-qualified tenants. Current waits at GBHA properties run roughly 6 months to 2 years depending on unit size. If you want a tenant-based voucher in the Green Bay area, you apply to BCHA, not GBHA.

Kenosha Housing Authority. 625 52nd Street, Room 98, Kenosha, WI 53140. (262) 653-4120. https://kenosha.org/departments/housing_authority/. Administers the voucher program across Kenosha County and serves roughly 1,200 families. The pre-application list was last accessible for a single day, when thousands of applicants normally coming in. Local preference goes to applicants who live, work, or attend school in Kenosha County.

Housing Authority of Racine County (HARC). 837 Main Street, Racine, WI 53403. (262) 636-3405. rcha.org. HARC manages around 1,700 voucher allocations for all of Racine County and averages a 19-month wait between selection and voucher issuance. HARC also runs project-based waitlists at Mt. Pleasant Manor, Levi Barnes Manor, and other properties, which open separately.

Appleton Housing Authority (AHA). 925 W. Northland Avenue, Appleton, WI 54914. (920) 739-6811. appletonhousing.org. AHA works in collaboration with the Outagamie County Housing Authority and covers both the city and the county. The Housing Choice Voucher waitlist is among the few in Wisconsin that stays open on a rolling basis, though the AHA itself warns applicants that the current wait runs 2 to 4 years. AHA also runs dozens of scattered-site public-housing units for seniors and people with disabilities, a family public-housing program, and a first-time homebuyer program. Appleton has a local ordinance protecting voucher holders from landlord discrimination.

Waukesha Housing Authority (WHA). 600 Arcadian Avenue, Waukesha, WI 53186. (262) 542-2262. https://www.whaonline.com/ WHA serves over 1,000 voucher households across Waukesha County and manages several public-housing properties including Saratoga Heights (1-bedroom high-rise), Berkshire Kensington (55+), Breezewood Village in Hartland (55+), and Gander (referral-based, disabled). Waitlists at specific WHA-managed buildings open separately.

Wausau Community Development Authority (WCDA). 550 East Thomas Street, Wausau, WI 54403. (715) 261-6687. wausauwi.gov. WCDA administers approximately 600 vouchers and manages dozens of scattered-site public-housing units for families plus Riverview Terrace, a 36-unit residential care complex for low-income elderly residents. WCDA has a pattern of opening its voucher list for short windows every year or two — most recently for about three weeks. Check the WCDA site for current status.

Oshkosh/Winnebago County Housing Authority (OWCHA). 1100 W. 20th Avenue, Oshkosh, WI 54902. (920) 424-1450. ohawcha.org. OWCHA runs one of the few large Wisconsin voucher programs that accepts applications on a continuous basis, then selects from applicants by lottery. Applicants with a local preference (living, working, or attending school in Winnebago County) typically wait 6 to 24 months. OWCHA also manages several project-based properties including Court Towers, Marion Manor, Raulf Place, Waite Rug Place, Riverside, and Fox View Manor, with income-based rents. Oshkosh's local ordinance protects voucher holders from source-of-income discrimination.

Eau Claire County Housing Authority (ECCHA). 721 Oxford Avenue, Room 3344, Eau Claire, WI 54703. (715) 839-6240 for Housing Choice Voucher; (715) 839-4741 for public housing. https://eauclairecounty.gov/departments/housing_authority. Administers roughly 368 Housing Choice Vouchers (including general, Moving Up, Family Unification, Mainstream, VASH, and Foster Youth to Independence vouchers), plus dozens og public-housing units at Golden Acres in Altoona and a small public-housing program for families within Eau Claire County. The City of Eau Claire Housing Authority is a separate small agency handling a handful of city-owned units.

La Crosse Housing Authority (LHA). 1307 Badger Street, La Crosse, WI 54601 (mailing: PO Box 1053, La Crosse, WI 54602). (608) 782-2264. https://lacrossehousing.org/. LHA runs about 200 Housing Choice Vouchers plus roughly 580 public-housing units within the City of La Crosse — a larger public-housing operation than most Wisconsin cities. It also manages Forest Park and Ping Manor, two newer project-based properties with separate open waitlists. La Crosse County Housing Authority (LCHA) is a separate agency at 615 Plainview Rd, (608) 781-5365, that handles 128 public-housing units for the rest of the county and keeps its waitlist open year-round.

Sheboygan Housing Authority (SHA). 611 North Water Street, Sheboygan, WI 53081. (920) 459-3466. sheboyganha.com. SHA administers around 300 Housing Choice Vouchers for the City of Sheboygan (city limits only) and manages public-housing apartments at Wasserman, Park Plaza, Tamarack House, and Georgia Avenue, plus a contracted elderly property at Rochester Springs in Sheboygan Falls. Both the voucher list and public-housing lists have been accepting pre-applications on a continuous basis; local preferences affect where you land on the list.

Smaller housing authorities: full Wisconsin directory

Below is the full list of local housing authorities in Wisconsin that administer Section 8 vouchers, public housing, or both. These contacts come from HUD's PHA database and have been on the page for several years — phone numbers, fax numbers, and addresses change; call before visiting in person, and check the PHA's own website for current waitlist status. For smaller rural PHAs, the email addresses in particular are frequently out of date.

Wisconsin also has several tribally designated housing entities that administer federal Indian Housing Block Grant funds rather than HUD Section 8 — those are not listed above but members of federally recognized tribes can contact their tribe's housing office directly.

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