Long Island public housing applicants face longest wait times in America

Applicants to large, medium and small housing authorities in Long Beach all face exceptionally long waiting periods.

1 minute read

September 6, 2026, 8:00 AM PDT

By Zachary Whalen


A dense neighborhood, with the long island expressway running through it.

Ian Wilder, executive director of Long Island Housing Services, blamed the long wait times on Long Island’s lack of affordable housing. | Content zilla

Applicants for public housing on Long Island face some of the longest wait times in the country, according to a Newsday analysis released on Sept. 1. People applying to the Town of Huntington Housing Authority face an average 18-year-long wait — the longest in the nation — and hopefuls for a subsidized apartment through the Town of Hempstead Housing Authority face an eight-year-long wait, the longest of any large public housing authority in America.

“Nearly all of these housing authorities have their waitlists closed and some have websites that provide little or no information about their application process or are completely broken,” writes Joshua Solomon for Newsday.

Newsday also found Long Beach is in the top 10 for longest average wait times in the nation among "medium-sized" housing authorities. With these authorities, wait times can exceed eight years.

Ian Wilder, executive director of Long Island Housing Services, said the lack of affordable housing on Long Island was a primary reason behind the island’s long wait times.

Tuesday, September 1, 2026 in Newsday

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