Linda Wilson dreams of one day owning a home with a backyard where her little dog can run and play.

"I just want something I can call my own," said Wilson, who lives at Spencer Towers downtown. "I want to shovel snow. I want to rake leaves."

She is hoping some help from the federal Section 8 housing program can help her reach her dreams. She was one of more than 500 people who applied for assistance from the program at the Rock Island Housing Authority office this week.

Section 8 is a rent subsidy program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It offers housing options for individuals and families who can't afford suitable housing and mortgage assistance for low-income individuals, like Wilson, who meet the criteria for a home-buyer program.

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RIHA opened its Section 8 waiting list on Tuesday for the first time since 2007. In two days, more than 500 people applied. In 2007, only 250 applied. The surge is indicative of today's tough economic times and the need for more affordable housing locally, RIHA marketing director Gail Brooks said.

"This demonstrates a huge need. We have never had as many people apply at one time," she said. "We've never had as many people on the waiting list before.

"It's the economy. There are a lot of people here that work one, two and three jobs. There just is not an abundance of jobs that provide a living wage out there today. There are far more minimum wage jobs, and that will not pay for an apartment for very long."

HUD allocates Rock Island 230 Section 8 vouchers to distribute. All of those are taken. RIHA maintains a full waiting list of applicants for whenever a voucher does become available.

"We don't have 230 vouchers to hand out. There are no immediate openings," Brooks explained. "We're creating a waiting list of people who could qualify for a voucher."

The waiting list is quite diverse. There are families, as well as individuals on the list. They're young, old, employed, unemployed and represent all races and ethnic backgrounds.

"This is indicative of the need we have here in Rock Island," Brooks said. "People have all kinds of stereotypes about who lives in public housing or who has Section 8. Quite frankly, those are based on ignorance. This is not an isolated segment of the population."

A Section 8 recipient personally can choose their housing, as opposed to the public housing program that places tenants into one of RIHA's 487 housing units.

"If you hold a voucher, you can go anywhere within Rock Island and choose an apartment or rental home of your own, as long as the landlord accepts the voucher," Brooks said.

Section 8 landlords are in short supply in Rock Island.

"We're always in need of more landlords," Brooks said. "For them, it's a guaranteed direct deposit rental payment. There are housing quality requirements, but once the home meets that criteria, it can be rented (to a Section 8 recipient)."

Section 8 recipients also must meet certain criteria, like they must earn 50 percent of the local median income or less. Criminal background and other criteria also is considered.

The waiting list compiled this week will likely last RIHA a few years.

"That's part of the challenge, because we don't have housing or vouchers to give to all the people who need them," Brooks said. "We do need more affordable housing.

"Unfortunately, that's a challenge on a national basis, our inability to build enough housing to accommodate the need. It's a matter of us getting the funding we need to build more, through grants, the stimulus package, or whatever money is out there."

Everyone who completed an application will go on the Section 8 waiting list in the order that they applied. Preference is given to those who are escaping domestic violence, involuntarily displaced by a disaster like a fire or flood, and those who are employed.