Waythrough is an independent resource, not THA. We summarize public information to help you get oriented. For applications and the most current waiting-list status, always use the official links below.

If you are searching for the "Housing Authority of Hillsborough County," here is the key thing to know: HUD's Florida list does not contain one. The only two public housing agencies in the county are the Housing Authority of the City of Tampa, HUD code FL003, and the much smaller Plant City Housing Authority, FL034. And Tampa Housing Authority's own About page states that it "offers housing opportunities to serve residents of the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County." So if you live in unincorporated Hillsborough County, Tampa Housing Authority is very likely your agency, and this page is about how it works: what its own pages say is closed, the one place it says to look for whatever is open, and the three visiting rules that will waste your trip if you do not know them.

Quick Facts

Serves: the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County, Florida
Phone: 813.341.9101
Official site: www.tampaha.org/
Apply: THA application page
Status last checked: September 9, 2026

Waiting-List Status

Waiting lists open and close frequently, so treat the status below as a starting point and confirm on the official site before you rely on it.

  • Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8): Closed — Closed with no reopening date. THA's dedicated page states, verbatim (checked September 9, 2026): "Currently the waitlist to receive Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) is closed and will NOT be accepting applications until further notice." The same page adds a warning worth repeating: "Be extremely cautious of scams." Nobody legitimate charges a fee to put you on a THA list.
  • All other THA waiting lists: Closed, with the portal as the only current source — THA's Apply Online page says: "Waitlists: Please go to this site and select the open application. At this time all other Tampa Housing Waitlists are closed." That wording implies there may be something selectable inside the portal, but THA does not name it and it is only visible after you create an account, which we have not done. So we will not tell you a list is open and we will not tell you none is. THA points applicants at its portal for whatever is open, and its FAQ says: "We regularly update this link, so if no waitlists are visible, it means none are currently available." Check tampaha.org/wait-list-information and the portal yourself, and call 813.341.9101 if it is unclear.
  • Public Housing and subsidized properties: No status published per property — THA lists more than 60 subsidized properties with addresses, phones and unit types, and publishes no waiting-list status for any of them. It also says plainly on its Available Units page: "The Tampa Housing Authority does not maintain an available unit listing." Selection across THA's lists is by lottery rather than date order, so applying the first minute a list opens confers no advantage. THA's typical wait, in its own words: "It varies, but the waiting period typically ranges from 3 to 5 years."

Programs THA Runs

  • Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8)
  • Public Housing, about 271 remaining units
  • Project-Based Vouchers and RAD converted properties, about 12,097 units and vouchers combined
  • Coordinated entry set-asides for people emerging from homelessness

How to Apply

Apply directly through the authority's official application page: www.tampaha.org/apply-online. If you have already applied, call 813.341.9101 to verify your position and keep your contact information current — if the authority cannot reach you when your name comes up, you can be dropped from the list.

New to the process? Our step-by-step guide to applying for Section 8 walks through the whole thing, and how to find your PHA helps you locate the right authority.

Other Authorities Serving This Area

  • Three visiting rules that are easy to miss and will cost you a trip. THA's sitewide hours are Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, but its Housing page adds that the "Customer service area will be closed for lunch from 12 pm to 1 pm daily," that there are "No Walk-Ins for Housing Specialists the last 5 business days of the month," and that "The customer service lobby will be closed every last Friday of the month." None of those appear in the footer hours.
  • The only published preference is a homelessness set-aside through coordinated entry. THA's page titled "Wait List Information" is not a status page at all: it explains that "The Tampa Housing Authority must fill units that are reserved for people emerging from homelessness from our community's coordinated entry system," and defines chronically homeless and literally homeless elderly in HUD's statutory language. Coordinated entry for this area runs through the Tampa Hillsborough Homeless Initiative at thhi.org. THA publishes no veteran, elderly, residency or working-family preference schedule anywhere.
  • Plant City Housing Authority is the county's other agency, HUD code FL034, at 1306 Larrick Lane, 813-752-0569. It is small and runs its own separate lists, so it is worth a call if you are in or near Plant City.
  • The City of Tampa's Rental and Move-In Assistance Program (RMAP) is not THA's. Tampa.gov states it "is administered only by City of Tampa staff through the official online application process." As of September 9, 2026 the City's page described a Phase X reopening "Tuesday, April 21st" with applications accepted "Tuesdays only from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m." through its online portal, and was stamped "Updated: 06/29/2026" with no current open or closed banner. Phases close when funding runs out, and the page shows no current status in either direction. Check tampa.gov before you count on it.
  • Emergency Housing Vouchers have ended here. THA received 222 of them in July 2021, and its own EHV page says "The EHV program sunset September 30th, 2023 and no longer accepting applications." It is not a route into assistance today.

More Local Resources

For the full picture of affordable housing in this area — emergency shelter, rental assistance, tenant rights, and legal aid — see our Tampa housing resources page and our FL state resources.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a Housing Authority of Hillsborough County?

Not one that we can find in any official source, and two independent sources point the other way. HUD's Florida PHA contact report contains no entry named Hillsborough: the only agencies in the county are FL003, the Housing Authority of the City of Tampa, and FL034, Plant City Housing Authority. And Tampa Housing Authority's own About page says it "offers housing opportunities to serve residents of the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County." Two more official pages corroborate it: Temple Terrace's city website says "The City of Temple Terrace does not provide housing-related services directly" and refers residents to THA, and Hillsborough County's own Housing Finance Authority is a bond-financing body created in 1985 that runs no voucher or public housing list. No official page states the negative outright, so we will put it this way: if you are in unincorporated Hillsborough County, Tampa Housing Authority is where to start, and Plant City if you are out that way.

Is the Tampa Section 8 waiting list open?

No. THA's dedicated page says: "Currently the waitlist to receive Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) is closed and will NOT be accepting applications until further notice" (checked September 9, 2026). No reopening date is published. For everything else, THA's Apply Online page says "Waitlists: Please go to this site and select the open application. At this time all other Tampa Housing Waitlists are closed," which hints that something may be selectable inside the portal without naming it. We are not going to claim a list is open on that basis, and we are not going to claim none is. THA's FAQ tells you how to read the absence: "if no waitlists are visible, it means none are currently available." Check for yourself and call 813.341.9101.

Does applying the moment a list opens help?

No, and this is the useful difference between Tampa and many other cities. THA's FAQ states that "applicants are selected through a lottery system" and that "Due to the high demand for housing assistance and our limited resources, our waitlists operate on a lottery system. While joining a waitlist does not guarantee housing assistance, it does provide you with an opportunity to be selected." So being first in line buys nothing. What does matter is applying at all before the window shuts, because THA warns that "our waitlists can close at any time without notice." It also says plainly: "Please understand that this is not emergency housing." Typical wait once you are on: three to five years.

What number should I call?

813.341.9101 is THA's main number, and it appears on the homepage, the FAQ, the dedicated Housing Choice Voucher page and the Help Center. TTY and TDD is 800.390.9290. The closest thing to a voucher line is Customer Service at 813.253.0551, given in THA's Assisted Housing FAQ. Two numbers to ignore: HUD's directory has the phone and fax reversed for FL003 and lists (813) 367-0778, and (813) 253-6991, which we ourselves used to publish, appears on no THA page we could find. There is also a Public Safety Anonymous Hotline at (813) 344-3210, but that is only for reporting safety hazards, criminal activity, lease violations or contractor abuse, not a general line. The office is at 5301 West Cypress Street, Tampa, FL 33607, with mail to P.O. Box 4766, Tampa, FL 33677.

Which THA website is the real one, tampaha.org or thafl.com?

Both are THA's and neither is a scam, but tampaha.org is the public site to use. It carries all the internal navigation, the footer copyright and every social handle. thafl.com is THA's portal gateway and internal identity: its homepage reads "Welcome to the Tampa Housing Authority Portal" and points back at tampaha.org, THA's press contact is an @thafl.com address, procurement runs at portal.thafl.com, and the agency's PHA Plan documents are hosted on a thafl.sharepoint.com address. Note also that portal.thafl.com is the older system for clients, vendors and employees and is not where you join a waiting list. The applicant portal THA's Apply Online page actually links is at bob.ai, tied to THA by the phaCode=FL003 parameter in the link.

Are there preferences that would move me up?

Only one that THA publishes, and it is a set-aside rather than a points schedule. THA's Wait List Information page explains that it "must fill units that are reserved for people emerging from homelessness from our community's coordinated entry system," and it defines two HUD categories: chronically homeless, meaning a homeless individual with a disability who lives in a place not meant for human habitation, a safe haven or an emergency shelter and has been homeless that way for at least 12 months or on at least four separate occasions in the last three years; and literally homeless elderly, meaning an individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence. Access is through coordinated entry at thhi.org, not through THA directly. THA publishes no veteran, elderly-general, residency or working-family preference, and we are not going to invent one.

Does Tampa still have public housing?

Yes, but only a little of it in the original form. THA's Housing page states that "This agency currently administers 271 public housing units and 12,097 RAD (formerly public housing), Housing Choice Vouchers, and other special rental assistance programs." Most of what used to be public housing here was converted under RAD, a process THA's own FAQ describes as covering thirteen properties and having been anticipated to complete by September 2016. In practice this means most THA-assisted apartments are now project-based rather than traditional public housing, and each property runs its own list. THA lists more than 60 subsidized properties with phone numbers, and calling the property is more productive than calling the main line about a specific building.

When can I actually go in person?

Weekdays 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, minus three exceptions THA publishes on its Housing page but not in its footer. The customer service area closes for lunch from 12 pm to 1 pm every day. There are no walk-ins for Housing Specialists during the last five business days of the month. And the customer service lobby is closed every last Friday of the month. Between them, those rules block out a meaningful slice of the month, so check the calendar before you drive to 5301 West Cypress Street, and call 813.341.9101 or Customer Service at 813.253.0551 first if your question can be answered by phone.

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