Beginning next week, the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation will drop a complex and frustrating rental housing application system in favor of a straightforward wait list for the thousands of families seeking housing.
Applicants have been filling out long applications on which they're awarded points in 11 categories. But the AFHC found the system was too complicated and difficult to administer. "It's painfully clear that the point-based program isn't working," AHFC executive director Dan Fauske said in a press release. "With more than 4,000 families on the waiting list, 250 applicants coming in every month and a turnover of few than 10 units per month, the system created false hope for those in the greatest need and that's the last thing those families need."
One notable exception, however: Applicants on waiting lists in Bethel, Cordova and Nome will continue to receive a preference for displacement due to domestic violence.?
A detailed explanation of AHFC's new process is available on the AHFC website at www.ahfc.us or at local AHFC offices.