Section 8 Rental Rates per bedroom

[Patrick Moore]

How do you find Section Rental Rates per bedroom in a given area - Is this easily accessibly information or an Industry Secret? Episode 356 really made me think!  

I have two larger rentals currently that have 5 bedrooms but have never thought to utilize section 8.  Made me think about adding more using that strategy but I don't have the first clue about Section 8.

[Joseph Konney]

Hi @Patrick Moore -

The helpful link for most rentals nationally between 0-4 bedrooms is HUD's Fair Market Rent Dataset. You can drill down by zip code to see what the maximum rent allowed for the voucher is. URL: https://www.huduser.gov/portal...

For 5+ bedrooms or SRO, while you should verify this with your local housing authority, this should be pretty accurate to do your own calculation based on the above data set:

"HUD derives FMRs for units with more than four bedrooms by adding 15
percent to the four-bedroom FMR for each extra bedroom. For example, the
FMR for a five-bedroom unit is 1.15 times the four-bedroom FMR, and the
FMR for a six-bedroom unit is 1.30 times the four-bedroom FMR.
Similarly, HUD derives FMRs for single-room occupancy units by
subtracting 25 percent from the zero-bedroom FMR (i.e., they are set at 0.75 times the zero-bedroom (efficiency) FMR)." https://www.federalregister.go...

Also note that bedrooms must have at least 75% of the room at 7ft or taller or they will not be counted (think about rooms that have part of a stairwell in them leading to a 2nd floor unit above).

@Greg Bayer - A landlord can charge whatever they like. However, they can only have rents as high as HUD's FMR if they have a section 8 tenant.