Porting In

Portability in the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program allows families to transfer their rental assistance to a different location outside the jurisdiction of the Public Housing Agency (PHA) that originally issued their voucher. When a family chooses to move, the new PHA in the area where they relocate, known as the Receiving PHA, will administer their assistance. Families must coordinate with their original PHA (Initial PHA) to begin the portability process, and certain restrictions may apply, such as living in the issuing PHA’s jurisdiction for one year before porting. For more information, visit the HUD Portability page or see our administrative plan here.

Please note that HATC is currently billing for port-ins. "Billing" means that when a tenant with a housing voucher moves to a new area and "ports" their voucher, the original Housing Authority (HA) continues to be responsible for the voucher payment, while "absorbing" means the new HA takes over full responsibility for the voucher and directly pays the landlord for the tenant's housing assistance.

Initiation of Port-In

You must submit your request to port-out from your current housing authority to their office and let them know you are interest in porting to the Housing Authority of Travis County.

Contacting Our Office

After your portability paperwork has been sent to our office by your housing authority, our office may take up 10 business days to review. It is your responsibility to contact the Portability Specialist, Andrea Broadnax to confirm the receipt of your portability paperwork.

Andrea Broadnax →

Scheduling Briefing

After your portability documentation has been reviewed by our office, we will contact you to schedule you, and all adult household members, for an informal briefing at our office. Depending on the circumstances, the family can attend the Orientation via Zoom.

Attending Briefing

You are required to provide photo identification for all adults and social security documentation, along with birth certificates for all household members. After the briefing you will receive your moving papers (voucher), resources and information on our housing authority's policies and procedures. Briefings are held the last Wednesday of each month but may be conducted individually if needed.

Searching for Unit

It is your responsibility to search for a unit. Once you believe you have found a unit, you must give the landlord the moving packet to complete. Either the landlord or the client can submit the packet to our office. The packet can be sent via email to [email protected].

Submitting the Moving Packet

Once the moving packet has been submitted, please allow 7-10 business days for our Portability Specialist to review your paperwork and schedule an inspection. You will be informed as to whether the unit passed or failed the inspection. Once a unit passes inspection our Portability Specialist will finalize your portion of the rent and send the contract to the landlord.

Porting in to HATC