Home Rentals in Arlington VA

NOTE: The Arlington County Housing Choice Voucher (ACHCV) Program is NOT currently accepting applications.

The federally funded and locally administered Arlington County Housing Choice (ACHCV) Program helps low-income families, the elderly and people with disabilities obtain safe, decent, and affordable housing in the private market.

How the ACHCV Program Works

• The voucher holder must find suitable housing where the property owner agrees to rent under this program (see Where to Use Vouchers or search on or Social Serve)
• The ACHCV Program must determine if the housing’s rent is reasonable and meets the annual housing quality standards (HQS) set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
• The ACHCV Program will enter into a housing assistance payments (HAP) contract with the property owner and pay a housing subsidy directly to the property owner on the voucher holder’s behalf.
• The voucher holder will pay the difference between the actual rent charged by the property owner and the amount subsidized by the program. (So, for example, if the monthly rent is $1, 000 and the ACHCV contributes $700 toward the client's rent, the voucher holder is responsible for the remaining $300).

Application Process/Waitlist

The ACHCV Program has an application waitlist of approximately 5, 000 people with an estimated five-year or more waiting period. The ACHCV Program is NOT accepting applications for its program waitlist.

All applicants have been notified that they are on the program waitlist. If the applicant has an address, status or household change while on the waitlist, the applicant must notify the ACHCV Program office in writing by completing the Waitlist Update Form.

Applicants will be notified by mail for a final eligibility interview upon reaching the top of the waitlist. ACHCV Program follows established HUD rules for waitlist management.

Although the ACHCV Program can’t release an applicant’s placement number on the waitlist, the applicant can confirm an active waitlist status by calling the Department of Human Services, Customer Service Department, at 703-228-1450.

ACHCV Program Income Guidelines

In the ACHCV Program, 75 percent of the families must be less than or equal to an extremely low income. The remaining 25 percent must fall at or below a very low income.