Why aren't Section 8 funds paid directly to the tenant?

[Greg Weik]

I posted this on FB also, but I think it was a TL;DR situation, and/or no one really wanted to "go there."  :) 

If housing assistance, such as Section 8 is designed to help tenants, why not give them the funds directly? I'm open to the possibility that I'm missing something, please set me straight if that's the case. 

The current law in Colorado is such that landlords or property management companies are required to accept Section 8 tenants if the applicants are otherwise approvable. What this actually means is a lot more than just simply "guaranteed rent" for the landlord, as some might think. 

We have to complete an 8-page document and jump through all sorts of hoops to "get the money." 

For example:

-We have to accept direct deposit directly from Section 8. We manage over 500 doors and having rogue deposits into our rental account is a nightmare from accounting, bookkeeping, and efficiency perspectives. 

-We have to tell Section 8 Big Brother if we post an "eviction notice." Again, more work for us, and not part of our standard process, which leaves room for human error and more expense.

-We have to tell Section 8 if the unit becomes vacant. Not part of our standard process, more opportunity for error/non-compliance, more expense.

-We have to include Section 8 language in my lease. Our people are trained on our standard lease clauses, more error potential and potential for contradictory clauses. More expense.

-We have to have Section 8 inspect the unit prior to rental (despite other existing laws protecting the public, such as the Warranty of Habitability) - again, more headache for us, as we have to send an agent to babysit the inspector. Recently, the inspector was over 20 minutes late, we had to pull our Team Member to a different property, and the government agent could not comprehend why we could not afford to have an agent camped at a property indefinitely. More expense.

If you want to take my tax dollars and re-distribute them to others, fine. But don't take my money via taxes to redistribute it and then double-dip by also requiring my private company to jump through all of the above hoops. 

If you've ever run a business or had to make payroll, you understand what I'm saying. If you don't have this background, you may not understand why this is such a big deal to me. 

Keep in mind that this kind of red-tape actually prevents me from adding more jobs, which would, ironically, lead to fewer people needing assistance in the first place. 

If you're trying to help people, then simply help THEM- give them the money directly for rental assistance. Don't make it my problem too. 

There's more to this rant if you can believe it. Some context to what is going on in Colorado in the rental housing world -