Atlanta Housing Voucher Ordinance Opinion for Investors

[McKayla Phelps]

Recently, Atlanta City Council posted the ordinance to mandate that all landlords must accept housing vouchers. Of course, this does guarantee rent from the tenants, but may potentially be more work by delaying property inspections and by inhibiting my ability to cancel/renew leases.

For those of you investors that are currently accepting vouchers in Atlanta, what have been your experiences? Is it worth the investment?

[Heather W.]

I’ve been doing Section 8 with the Atlanta Housing Authority for almost 10 years and served on the their landlord advisory board for a couple of years. I only have four houses with the AHA right now, but they all have the original tenants that moved in after purchase (6 years, 2 at 4 years, and 1 at 3 years).  There is an extreme shortage of available houses, so no one moves because they “found a better place.”  My screening criteria for AHA participants is the same as for my market tenants and the demand is so high I can be really picky. The regular inspections ensure the house stays in good shape. The AHA requires all tenants to work or be in school if they aren’t disabled, so I like the tenant pool better than the other S8 programs in the area. Finally, I like serving a population in need while still making the same amount of money. 
There are disadvantages, though. Getting your first house on the program takes so much time. You have to attend a meeting, navigate the government paperwork, and pass the inspection. If you don’t get the rent you want do you reject the tenant and start over with a market rate tenant?  There are inconsistencies between the inspectors that can make it hard to predict what repairs you need to make. 
The time investment to learn the program has been worth it for me, but my plan has always included Class C rentals.