HUD HCV Guidebook § 4.2

Annual Income is compared to the applicable income limit to determine eligibility. A family’s income must21 be
within the income limits for the PHA’s jurisdiction at the time the family receives a voucher to search for
housing. In addition, the family, when it is first admitted, must select a unit in an area in which the family
meets the income limit for the housing choice voucher program. Income limits apply only at the time of
admission and are not a factor in ongoing program eligibility.

A PHA with more than one set of income limits within its jurisdiction must22 use the highest income limit within
its jurisdiction when determining initial household eligibility. However, a family whose income is above the
limits in one or more areas of that PHA’s jurisdiction may lease only in an area where the family is income
eligible when it executes its first lease assisted under the voucher program. Similarly, a family exercising
portability when first admitted to the program must lease in an area where it is within the eligibility income
limit.

To determine which applicants qualify as continuously assisted, the PHA must23 establish policies concerning
whether and to what extent a brief interruption between assistance under one of these programs and
admission to the voucher program will be considered to break continuity of assistance under the 1937
Housing Act.