"What If" Section 8 Were No More

[Mehran K.]

Hey there community!

I'm closing on a property tomorrow and I'll be inheriting a Section 8 tenant. I always like to think about possible "What If" scenarios and it's got me thinking. I ponder, how would it affect us as landlords/investors (even those that do not accept section 8 tenants) if the entire Section 8 program were shut down, for good.

• I'm sure the numbers vary in every market, but I'm pretty sure there is a hefty amount of tenants in the renter pool being subsidized by the program. Do you think it would have a major impact on general market rents across the country?
• Investors that are heavily saturated with section 8 tenants would be having a hard time making payments and keeping their property in good condition. With decreases in general market rent, over-leveraged investors could be in a bind as well. Would this impact property values if there are increased foreclosures?

There are probably tons of other things that would happen as a result of Section 8 ceasing to exist but these ones just popped in my mind. If this ever did happen, it probably wouldn't be a sudden thing, but you never know!

I'm just wondering what other people think, thanks in advance!

[Bill Gulley]

The clear majority of those receiving Sec 8 are not just lazy (code with a racial undertones by the way, deny it all day but that's clearly the historic implication of those) individuals milking the system.

Most work, they have jobs, they check you out at stores, they wait on your table, clean your dishes, clean your homes, watch your children, some teach, they work in hospitals cleaning up the messes of the sick, they drive trucks, wash your cars, mow your lawns, they labor at factories....I could go on. I'd bet some call themselves real estate investors. Many who attack these people as being lazy don't even know them, nor could they afford to hire them.

Others are elderly, disabled and unable to earn a living wage.

Of those you see sitting on a porch who appear to be work capable may have mental issues. Mental illness is a disease, it can be cause by biological issues or physical trauma. You can't see it, you can speak to some for an hour and never understand their underlying issues. That speaks to your ignorance in understanding that full employment requires a constant ability to interact, concentrate and function along with the inability of the observer to identify such issues.

Most of the posts on BP that I see claiming that all "these" people in Sec 8 being lazy stems from ignorant bias learned or formed from hearsay popularized by those wearing three pointed hats calling themselves patriots and conservative, even calling themselves Christian. What is so ironic is that many of these same people are in the same socio-economic group that they taunt. Why? Because they refuse to be associated with their peers as if that elevates their social status, at least in their own eyes. Class warfare by those wanting to desert their own kind. Resentment is their poison.

While our "investor" members may have interacted personally with, maybe, a dozen or a handful of those receiving housing benefits, I doubt there are more than 10 landlords here who have had 200 leases under Sec. 8, I have had personal contact with thousands of these citizens.

I've been to St. Louis, KC, Mo, Phoenix, San Antonio, Dallas, Philadelphia, New Orleans Housing Authorities and oversaw operations of a large PHA here. The only way you could have more exposure to these programs and the people in them would be for you to work in a PHA. So, it's not as if I've been stuck in some cow town without exposure to highly populated and diversified areas.

I will admit that social programs breed an attitude of entitlement, especially in younger family members caught in economic deprivation, but most grow out of it. If they don't, most remaining don't qualify leaving a very few that really milk the system. So, identifying all "these"people as being the same as that very small group is much like identifying real estate investors who don't own properties as unemployed scrappers blindly chasing paths to easy money.

Sec. 8 may be cut, it won't go away due to the social and economic requirements of a civilized society. I don't believe there is any threat of "those" people resorting to civil riot as much as by a greater population that would not allow or tolerate such an economic unraveling.

Perhaps we can discuss the Sec. 8 system, the economic impact, without attacking those it serves. :)