Section 8 thoughts

[Chuck Gerchow]

Hey was curious what different experiences were with sec 8 vouchers. Some have vouchers as hi as 2200 Thanks Chuck

[Account Closed]

I'm a former manager, retired, and low income.  I now live in subsidized senior apartments and I now have a Section 8 voucher. I've learned a lot about them.

First, you have the right to screen them however you want to, within the law.  You can set your screening criteria as strict as you would any other property.

Also, the tenant must come up with their own deposit.  They don't get a discounted deposit.  So, you can set your deposit the same way you would any other property.

The number you want to look at is the "Payment Standard" for your city/county. HUD has a Fair Market Rent amount, but the local public housing authority (PHA) may tweak that number a bit.

The payment standard is the max rent allowed for different sized units, based on number of bedrooms.  

If a voucher holder has had a good track record, the PHA may allow them to pay a higher rent than the payment standard, paying the difference between the payment standard and the higher rent - but only if the additional amount paid, keeps their portion of the rent to 40% (if I recall correctly) of their income.

Here is the payment standard list for Seattle:

https://www.seattlehousing.org/residents/informati...

King Co's website has a payment standard look-up feature, and you can put in different zip codes to find out what it is:

http://www.kcha.org/landlords/rent-utilities/

You should look over their contract to make sure it's something you really want to do. Normally, with a voucher holder, you can only evict them "for cause," regardless if their lease has ended or not. You can't just give them notice to move out, like non-voucher tenants. The "for cause" list, is determined by HUD. You can terminate if you want to raise the rents, as I recall, or if you want to move into the unit, for instance. But, you have to have a reason listed by HUD. Just make sure you understand it.

The PHAs are always looking for landlords, so don't be shy about going in and asking for an appointment to go over what would be involved.

Now that I know more about the program, as a voucher-holder, I think the bad rep of voucher holders is usually the landlord's fault for not screening them well.   Because you absolutely can screen them well.

For instance, just to get on the waiting list for a place I'd like to move into, I had to pay an application fee and allow them to do a credit and criminal background check - just to get on the waiting list.  I passed - yay - LOL.  But, it also gives me comfort knowing they're really picky about their tenants.

Good luck!