Section 8 Exemption for the new California Rent control law

[Varouj Asdourian]

I was doing research on the new rent control law that was enacted in California and it appears that Section 8 tenants and units are EXEMPT from the new law.  Does anyone have additional information about this?  Thank you.

[Chris Mason]

I can't cite a source or anything, but Sec 8 (federal) has always trumped city enacted (municipal) rent control ordinances, inside California at least. I don't know why it would be any different... federal trumps state just as much as it trumps municipal.

The logic might be that total rents collected for a Sec 8 unit have almost nothing to do with the amount paid by the tenant. If Sec 8 says Sally can only pay $700/mo, Sally is still paying $700/mo even if the market rents (and thus total amount of rent collected by the landlord) increases from $2000/mo to $2500/mo.

People have been working that angle in my area, Oakland specifically, for a long time.... buy a cashflow negative property, float it a while, and each time a tenant cycles out, boom put that unit on Section 8.