Section 8 Legislation Reform on Mandatory Participation

[Cassandra Swanson]

Recently Senators Chris Coons and Kevin Cramer S. introduced The Choice in Affordable Housing Act.   This bill is focused on voluntarily incentivizing for the participation of the rental housing industry in the Section 8 Housing  program. The proposal does not include a source of income mandate through the Fair Housing Act. Instead, it  maintains the voluntary nature of the program and concentrate on incentives for rental home providers that participate in the  program.  As a property manger over the years, the owners that lose the ability to chose what programs they participate in, have been investors for a shorter period of time.  Locally our section 8 program has requirements on landlords to keep property in passable condition of their inspections, while having no guarantee for investment owners when damages exceed the security deposit in a unit.  For owners that have one home, or are new to the industry Section 8 requirements can hurt their ability to grow and reinvest in rentals.   This bill, written with input from housing providers, is designed to speed up tenancy approval processes, reduce duplicative inspections requirements and provide better ongoing support for housing provider participants.

Curious if any investors in BP are apposed to this type of bill.  Am I missing any investors that have a reason they would want it to be mandatory?