The Johnstown Housing Authority is no longer accepting applicants for the Section 8 waiting list.

More than 1,000 people are on the wait-list for the Johnstown Housing Authority’s Section 8 program, but there are only 953 vouchers. It could take up to 14 months to get one.

“Our policy states that if it’s over a 12 month wait then we close the list. So we closed the list,” said Daniel Kanuch, the executive director of Johnstown Housing Authority.

Unlike public housing at Solomon, Prospect or Oakhurst Homes, Section 8 gives vouchers to low-income families or individuals to use for rent payments to private landlords, approved by the authority.

“Its just another opportunity for economically disadvantaged to make it and I think it’s a good program,” said Kanuch.

The housing authority gives preference to people who live in the region, but federal law prohibits requiring applicants to live in the area.

Housing authority officials said they don’t know when they’ll start accepting more applicants, but it could take more than a year.

“There’s more of a demand than there is a supply. Between 8-12 individuals leave the program every month and we have that many or more individuals coming onto the list,” Kanuch said.

As a way to promote a more stable and less transient population, the housing authority is considering implementing a homeownership program into Section 8, allowing vouchers to be used to help pay mortgages.

“Our area is below the state average of homeowners compared to renters. So we would increase the homeownership end of it. So that is always a positive. For any economy,” Kanuch said.

The homeowner program will be voted on later this year.