Delaware State Rental Assistance Program (SRAP)

How It Works

The State Rental Assistance Program (SRAP) is Delaware’s own version of a housing voucher. It works much like the federal Housing Choice Voucher program, often called Section 8, but the money comes from the state budget instead of from HUD. The Delaware State Housing Authority administers the vouchers. The agency now uses the public name Housing Delaware.

A household with a voucher rents a unit from a private landlord. The tenant pays 28% of monthly income toward rent, slightly less than the 30% standard in most federal programs, and SRAP covers the rest. DSHA inspects every SRAP-subsidized unit to confirm it meets HUD’s Housing Quality Standards.

What makes SRAP different is the link to services. Every participant must be eligible for, and receiving, supportive services as a client of one of two state departments: the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) or the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families (DSCYF). The voucher covers housing, and the partner agency covers services. Pairing a rent subsidy with services is also the idea behind permanent supportive housing.

Who It Serves

According to DSHA, applicants must:

• Be Delaware residents and U.S. citizens or eligible immigrants
• Be at least 18, or within 60 days of turning 18
• Have household income at or below 50% of state median income
• Receive supportive services as a client of DHSS or DSCYF

The referred population includes:

• People leaving long-term care facilities and nursing homes
• People at risk of entering, or needing services from, a state-supported institution
• Young people leaving foster care
• Families for whom the lack of affordable housing is a barrier to reunification

DSHA states the income test as a share of state median income. Most federal programs instead use HUD’s area median income figures, which are set for each metropolitan area or county.

How to Access It

SRAP accepts applications by referral only. Renters cannot apply directly to DSHA. A case manager at DHSS or DSCYF submits the referral. People who think they may qualify through DHSS can ask their case manager or call the Delaware Aging and Disability Resource Center at 1-800-223-9074. For other state and federal options, see the Delaware housing guide.

History

DSHA dates SRAP’s creation to 2011. That same year, on July 6, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint and a settlement agreement with the state in U.S. v. Delaware. The Justice Department had investigated whether people with mental illness in Delaware were being served in the most integrated settings appropriate to their needs, as the Americans with Disabilities Act requires under the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision. Among other commitments, the state agreed to offer at least 650 housing vouchers or subsidies.

SRAP became one of the main ways the state met that commitment, alongside other state and federal sources. The court monitor reported in September 2016 that SRAP paid rent for many people in the settlement’s target population. As of July 1, 2016, the monitor wrote, the state had funded up to 528 SRAP vouchers and 461 had been issued. The case was dismissed in October 2016.

According to DSHA, SRAP has occasionally expanded to other groups through pilots. In January 2026, DSHA and DHSS launched a pilot offering 20 SRAP vouchers, each limited to two years, to clients of the Dual Generation Center in Wilmington.

Limitations

• Budget-limited. SRAP depends on annual appropriations, so the number of vouchers can change from year to year.
• Narrow front door. Only households already receiving state services and referred by a partner agency can get help. Low-income Delawareans outside those systems need other programs.
• Private-market constraints. Like federal voucher holders, SRAP households must find an available unit on the private market that passes inspection. Delaware’s fair housing law bars source of income discrimination and defines source of income to include government rental assistance, but the law has exceptions.