Section 8 is commonly known as the Housing Choice Voucher program. It is part of the most significant federal housing assistance program that sponsors renter rent payments to help low-income tenants access safe, clean housing. You can get a new group of renters after approving this.
Getting a house approved for section 8 is pretty straightforward. You can contact your local PHA to inquire about the requirements for housing landlords. There are housing authority offices in each state, and many cities and towns also have their own PHAs.
Housing choice vouchers are issued by many local city and county PHAs. They can guide you to follow the further steps to get approval for section 8.
In most states, potential landlords have the right to choose whether they want to accept vouchers or not. States like Oregon impose laws that require property owners to take these types of renters. Denying Section 8 vouchers holders consider it constitutes discrimination in these jurisdictions.
Keep on reading this article to get more information on how this works and its benefits.
Contents
How does Section 8 work?
The HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) gives funds to PHAs or local public housing agencies, issuing vouchers to qualified tenants. These vouchers are available for low-income families and individuals who are citizens of the U.S. or indefinite category for noncitizens eligible for immigration status.
Local PHAs determine the eligibility criteria based on tenants’ total annual gross income and family size. In simple words, the family’s yearly income may not exceed 50% of the median income for the area where they are living.
Section 8 vouchers generally cover the difference between 30% of the household’s income and the rent price. It can either be the published fair market rent ceiling or the comparable, unassisted rent resolution by the PHA. HUD considers local rental market conditions to recalculate fair market rents for state and local areas every year.
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Steps to get the approval
Here are the simple steps landlords have to follow to get the process done:
- Contact your local PHA and provide them your personal information like identification and property location; after delivering, check if any changes need to be made to the property to meet the PHA requirements.
- Once your application for becoming Section 8 is approved, make an appointment to have a PHA inspector visit the property.
- After the inspector approves the property, some additional paperwork like a w-9 to begin receiving HUD vouchers payments needs to be filled out by landlords.
- Landlords should market the rental property that is approved to prospective tenants, ensuring to emphasize the fact that the home is approved for section 8.
Benefits of being a Section 8 landlord
Some key advantages might make some of the landlords consider joining and renting Section 8 renters. Some of them are as follows:
When you become a Section 8 landlord, one of the best things you achieve is a reliable monthly payment, as these renters can lose their housing voucher if they delay or do not follow the payment conditions.
You will get the Pre-Screened applicants that make it easy for you to select the best candidate as your tenant. As a Section 8 landlord, you can promote your rental apartment on the website of HUD that prospective renters can use to find qualifying low-income housing.
Writer and content creator interested in Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Jobs and landlord issues. I have a bachelor’s degree in Communication from the Andrés Bello Catholic University, VE, and I also studied at Chatham University, USA. In this blog I write and collect information of interest around agreements, property and mortgage.