How to determine rents for Section 8 properties

[Jenna Kelley]

Hi All, I have an offer accepted on a multi-family home that I will house hack. I want to rent one of the units to a section 8 tenant. The average rent in the area I am buying in is around $1000-1100 / month. I know that HUD pays $1530 for a three-bed unit in the city I am buying in. The thing I am confused about is if the average rents in my area are lower than what HUD will pay for a three-bed unit, how do I determine what the rent should be? I know HUD pays 70% of the rent for the tenants and the tenants must cover the remaining 30%. I also know voucher amounts vary from person to person. I want to get the maximum amount of rent for my unit but I also want it to make sense and don't understand this process. If anyone has experience with this, I would greatly appreciate some help. This will be my first rental property so I am completely new to this! Thank you!!!