Section 8 Rental - Trouble Finding Tenants

[Rob Catching]

Hello all, I own a package of three rent houses (single-wide mobile homes) near Lake Texoma on the west side of the lake. The nicest of the three stays rented at $500 per month. The other two are both 2 bedroom 1 bath homes that I completely remodeled about 2 years ago, these homes are in clean updated condition and both show well. I have had trouble keeping regular (non-section 8) tenants in the two smaller homes due to typical issues regarding the lack of paying rent.

My preference is to rent these two homes section 8 and I have long been on both PHA's list of landlords with available properties. However, Section 8 tenants don't seem to want to be in this area. Specifically, I believe it is not a problem with the properties, but more an issue of location. The homes are about 14 miles from the nearest school, I tend to think of Section 8 renters as mostly having children, so the school issue may be a problem.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to make these two homes more appealing to Section 8 tenants?

Any input is appreciated. Thanks

Rob