Low-income and Extremely Low-income Requirements
As the city's Public Housing Authority (PHA), Housing Services must ensure that 75 percent of new waitlist admissions are extremely low-income families. To stay within federal laws, Housing Services may need to move extremely low-income applicants to a position on the waitlist above applicants who are in the low-income category.

The Tempe Income Limit document will help determine if you fall within the extremely low-income category (30 percent of the median income) or low-income category (50 percent of the median income).

Family Composition
A "family" includes: 

• A single person who is 62 years of age, disabled according to Social Security definition or handicapped
• Any other single person
• A married couple whose head of household, or spouse, is 62 years of age, disabled according to Social Security definition or handicapped
• Any two or more persons sharing residency whose income and resources are available to meet the family's needs and who are related by blood, marriage or operation of law (or who have evidence of a stable family relationship, which has existed over a period of at least two years)

Waitlist Preference Point System
To better serve those persons truly in need of housing in Tempe, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the City of Tempe Housing Services have established a Waitlist Preference Point System.

After the lottery has taken place, points will be assigned to applicants.

Find more information about preferences here. (PDF)