Frequently Asked Questions - Overhoused Households
The information is intended to highlight some of the information related to rent geared-to-income housing. It is not intended to provide all the information you may need to know.
- General Topics
- Waiting List
- Ranking Order
- Removal from the List
- Refusal to Offer
- Overhoused Households
An Overhoused Household is a household that occupies a rent-geared-to-income unit that is larger than the largest unit the household is eligible for, based on the number of people in the household and the number of bedrooms in the unit.
If you have been identified as an Overhoused Household, you will have to transfer to a unit that is the right size for your household. Once you are deemed overhoused, you will be placed either on the Transfer Waiting List at the Central Housing Registry, or on an internal transfer waiting list with your current housing provider, according to the following scenarios:
You are overhoused and your current housing provider does not have the proper size unit for you. You must apply to the Central Housing Registry’s transfer waiting list.
For example, you have been living in a 2-bedroom unit and your household size changes. You now qualify for a 1-bedroom apartment. If the building where you live only has 2-bedroom apartments, you must apply to the Central Housing Registry for placement on the transfer waiting list for other buildings that have 1-bedroom apartments. You should select only the buildings with 1-bedroom apartments where you would like to live.
You are overhoused and your current housing provider has the proper size unit. You will be placed on the provider’s internal transfer waiting list.
For example, you have been living in a 2-bedroom unit and your household size changes. You now qualify for a 1-bedroom apartment. If the building where you live has 1-bedroom apartments, you must apply to be placed on the provider’s internal transfer waiting list. If you are not transferred to the right size unit with your current housing provider within 12 months of being deemed overhoused, you must apply to the Central Housing Registry’s transfer waiting list.
If you are overhoused, the date of your application on the Central Housing Registry transfer waiting list and on the provider’s internal transfer waiting list will be your original date of application when you first applied for subsidized housing.
Do I lose my rent subsidy just for being overhoused?
No, you will not lose your rent subsidy for being deemed overhoused, but will lose your rent subsidy if you are deemed overhoused and;
- you refuse one (1) offer to transfer
- you take your name off the Central Housing Registry transfer waiting list or the housing provider’s internal transfer list at any time.