Find your local housing authority — and get on a waiting list.
A plain-English directory of every U.S. Public Housing Authority. Look up addresses, phone numbers, programs administered, and how to get onto Section 8 and public housing waiting lists.
Browse Housing Authorities by State
Each state page lists every HUD-recognized Public Housing Authority operating in that state, grouped by city. Click any authority to see their full address, contact info, programs administered, and current waiting list status.
See all 54 states & territories →
What is a Public Housing Authority?
A Public Housing Authority (PHA) is a state-chartered or local-government agency that receives federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to administer affordable housing programs in a defined geographic area. There are roughly 3,300 active PHAs across the United States and its territories, ranging from the New York City Housing Authority — which serves more than 400,000 residents — to small rural authorities serving a single county or town.
PHAs are the front door to almost every form of federally subsidized rental assistance in America. If you need help paying rent, want to apply for an apartment in a public housing development, or are searching for a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher, your local PHA is where the application starts. They maintain the waiting lists, screen applicants for income eligibility, issue vouchers, inspect units, and recertify household income each year. Because federal funding is limited and demand is high, most PHAs maintain waiting lists that may be open or closed at any given time.
How This Directory Helps You
Housing Ledger pulls together publicly available data from HUD’s official Public Housing Authority dataset and presents it as plain, browseable pages — no login, no paywall, no fee. We never charge applicants and we are not affiliated with HUD or any federal program. For each authority you can see:
- The legal name and mailing address of the housing authority.
- A direct phone number for the authority’s main office.
- Which programs the authority administers — Public Housing, Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV), or both.
- The approximate number of subsidized units the authority manages.
- A printable detail page with the agency’s service area, what to bring when applying, and links to related authorities nearby.
Featured Housing Authorities
New York City Housing Authority
Chicago Housing Authority
PUERTO RICO PUBLIC HOUSING ADMINISTRATION
Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles
NYS Housing Trust Fund Corporation
NYC Dept of Housing Preservation and Dev
Affordable Housing Resources
If you’re new to the world of subsidized housing, two of the most useful starting points are our Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher guide and our guide to public housing. Both walk through eligibility rules, the application process, what happens after you submit your application, and how to keep your spot on a waiting list once you’ve been added. The resources page rounds up additional national and state-level help, including emergency rental assistance, fair-housing complaint hotlines, and tenant rights organizations.
Noticed an authority’s contact information has changed? Send us a note — we update listings as soon as official HUD data is refreshed.