How long can a Section 8 waiting list be?

From what I have researched the demand for a section 8 rental is higher than the supply - creating a waiting list.

Waiting lists can last years. Denver Colorado started a lottery system for the highly popular federal voucher. Nearly 8,000 have registered for the voucher in Denver, only about 300 are picked. Not very good odds.

The Denver lottory has some people upset because imagine that you have been on the list for 2 years and then someone registers the day before the lottery and gets picked.

But I guess at least Denver gives you some hope, because in some communities the list is so long that they close the registration process.

Each county has their own program as well so you can’t take a voucher from Denver and look for a home in Arapahoe county or Douglas county. Also, just because the property has a Denver address doesn’t mean that it is within Denver county so you must do the due diligence as there are some homes with a Denver address located in Arapahoe County.

Also,  coloradohousingsearch.com lists homes that will accept housing assistance – it’s a site designed for low to moderate income families. It also lists what housing assistance maximums (fair market value) are for specific areas for landlord information. i.e for Douglas, Elbert, and Arapahoe counties a 5 bedroom home FMR is $1,692 per month.

From this web site, they indicate that the national average wait time for a housing voucher is 28 months (this was in 2000 so it could be even longer now).