Section 8 housing requirements ?

Question

Are section 8 or HUD housing a good idea ? What are the pros and cons and requirements. Any advice can help.

Ned Carey · Answer

@Yacoub Shack We rent to primarily section 8 tenants.  We have had very good success with the program and have never had the kind of problem tenants sometimes described here.

Our first tenant is still with us 10 years later. She takes care of the house and rarely complains. If she does have a problem, it is always a legitimate problem that we take care of right away.  In our area section 8 tenants tend to stay longer and section 8 pays a little better than market rent.

Each counties section 8 office is run by the local housing authority. The rules and policies can vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In my area a tenant can be kicked off the program. This gives that landlord some leverage.

When I read comments from cynics like Carl Mathis (Post above removed), I think they are probably not very good at screening tenants. If you are in an area with bad section 8 tenants then you are likely to run into market tenants that are bad also, screening is the key in either case. At least with section 8 you get paid.

James York · Answer

This is a volatile topic. I’m a big fan of section 8. Many of the tenants are not good tenants, but do thorough background checks and weed them out. The good ones generally are great people who just need some help. Also, look up HUD fair market rent for your zip code to see if it matches market rent. Some places it’s higher, others it’s lower. Don’t assume that every tenant will be approved at that max rent either. It depends on their situation. I made another post on the topic and got an unbelievable amount of negative feedback. Do your own research and make your own best decisions. I’ll be looking for section 8 tenants for my next property...

A Morgan · Answer

Section 8 is a great idea if done correctly.  Dr. Joe Asamoah is an expert in the area and has really helped me with my property.

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Scott M. · Answer

YES NO 100% YES 100% My experience has been incredible and I tripled my life savings My experience was terrible and I lost my life savings.  As @James York said and if this thread catches on it will soon be a he said/she said that will be hard to follow.

As someone to manages hundreds and hundreds of single family homes I can tell you that my/our personal and professional experience with Sec. 8 is very similar if not 100% in line with our market rent tenants.  Eviction rate, turn over costs, length of stay...almost every metric is similar, I can't think of one that isn't.

if you manage enough properties you will see it all.  And we haven't even seen it all as we have not had a tenant threaten to sic their girlfriend on us like @nathan G. has.  But we have had not so great market and Sec. 8 tenants.  We have had wonderful and amazing market and Sec. 8 tenants and everything in between.

The one difference is locally they require a yearly inspection and even if the tenant is clearly at fault....say, taking down a smoke detector, Sec. 8 will make the landlord responsible to put it back up.  Using this as a simple/cheap example, but rarely does Sec. 8 hold a tenant responsible during the yearly inspections for things they clearly are responsible for.  That does get annoying.

As market rents go up, they often lag as well so just know until they approve the rent you are asking for it isn't approved.  Sometimes they will ask you to accept a lower rate or provide comps and working with them to raise it is next to impossible so it is basically a take it or leave it.

Not the most responsive organization if you need anything.  That said, they pay onetime every month (after a 2-3 month delay) and they were solid solid solid during covid as well.

We don't mind Sec. 8 but do educate our clients about the items listed here so they can make the right choice for them.

Nelson Ng · Answer

My friend rented out to a Section 8 tenants- Higher rent and rent is always on time then came one day when there was a shooting inside her house. Definitely not worth it and you never know they could be running a meth lab inside your house.

Jennifer Donley · Answer

@Yacoub Shack, you've got some really good pros and cons here so I won't rehash those.

In my mind, doing Section 8 well on the landlords part comes down to 2 main things - being an excellent screener (have a solid, lengthy, clear process for screening for ALL tenants and be sure to include a home visit to their current residence as the last piece of the screening) and how good you or your property manager is at handling details and processes.  Section 8 can be great if you have great tenants and are able to handle paperwork and management easily.

Unfortunately, a very large number of landlords and PMs are not great at either and so those folks generally end up hating Section 8.

As the others have mentioned, how well run your local Housing Authority will also have a huge impact.  That is something I would strongly recommend you find some successful local Section 8 landlords to discuss with as the voucher program is administered locally so isn't something an outsider can tell you.

Good luck!

Gail K. · Answer

It is often recommended that you check out the housing authority that handles these vouchers.  For many landlords who deal with this program, the "make or break" situation is how easy or difficult it is to work with the actual local authority in your area.  It would benefit you to speak with other local landlords who deal with this program.

In my area we seem to have many, many tenants on this program and many waiting to get on it.  Thus caseworkers are terribly overworked as are the inspectors who check out and approve properties.

Remember you are working with government folks.  I was a government employee for 30 years before I retired from the VA.  I know what dolts we were (some of it our fault, some due to really stupid issues we peons had no control over).

Louie Gabriel · Answer

@Yacoub Shack Make sure you check your state law regarding subsidized housing. It is Illegal to base a decision on if they have a  voucher or not, so make sure you know the laws in your State.  There are good and bad in every group and at some properties, we have a high proportion of subsidized renters and in others (more expensive places) we have none.  There are pluses and minuses as others have said, you know a portion of the rent is paid every month on time and you have someone that in many cases can help manage a problem renter etc.  There is, of course, more paperwork and hassle though.

Section 8 housing requirements ?

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