HONOLULU (KHON2) — The City and County of Honolulu is opening its waitlist for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program that provides rental assistance to households eligible with funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Mayor Rick Blangiardi said, “The program helps to prevent families from falling into homelessness and provides guaranteed rent payments to participating landlords.  We encourage eligible applicants to take advantage of this win-win resource.”

Pre-applications will be accepted online starting Monday, Feb. 6 at 7:45 a.m. to Friday, Feb. 10 at 4:30 p.m., according to officials.

Submitted pre-applications will be randomized.

3,000 will be selected in a lottery and placed on the waiting list.

Rules are one application per household, no first come first served and there is no guarantee for eligibility or housing assistance after applying.

For more information, you can visit the city’s section 8 website.