Why landlords dont like section 8

They will once again send the inspector to determine if all issues have been fixed. A landlord traditionally collects rent before a tenant moves into the rental.

Section 8 is different. You will typically not receive your first rent check from Section 8 until after the tenant moves into the property. The delay in payment is something to keep in mind when considering renting to Section 8 tenants. If you are not financially able to wait a couple of months to receive rent, then Section 8 may not be the right choice for you.

These vouchers do not include an amount for the security deposit. If a landlord wishes to collect a security deposit , he or she has to get this deposit directly from the tenant. This could be an issue because the tenant has already shown to have limited income by being approved for a Section 8 voucher in the first place. As with any other tenant, you should never allow a Section 8 tenant to move in without first collecting a security deposit from them.

The maximum amount you can collect is determined by your state security deposit limit. Another risk of renting to a Section 8 tenant is the belief that Section 8 tenants are very destructive. There have been horror stories about floors being destroyed, cabinets being pulled off the walls, toilets being cracked, garbage and filth everywhere and many more people living in the unit than are listed on the lease.

Certainly, this can happen. However, these problems can happen with any tenant you rent to. There are good Section 8 tenants and there are bad Section 8 tenants. This is why it is so important to screen all tenants , including Section 8 tenants, properly. Tenants who do not collect rental assistance may be turned off by the fact that you allow Section 8 tenants in your property. In these situations, the only thing you can do is make sure you place quality tenants in your property and that you keep up with property maintenance.

If non-Section 8 tenants see that your property is quiet and in pristine condition, they may change their opinion about Section 8.

After five years of unstable housing, during which she and her children stayed with family or in shelters, Sofia said she was hopeful the voucher would help them move into their own place. Systematic research corroborates these firsthand accounts.

In , the Urban Institute conducted tests by calling thousands of landlords in five cities who were listing voucher-affordable apartments. In three of the cities — Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Fort Worth, Texas — over two-thirds of landlords said they would refuse to accept vouchers.

In response to the problem, 13 states plus Washington, DC and more than 50 cities and counties throughout the US have passed source-of-income laws requiring landlords to treat voucher holders the same as they would other applicants.

Landlords are also prohibited from turning down voucher holders based on their source of payment. The Poverty and Race Research Action Council estimates that as of November , only about half of voucher holders are covered by source-of-income laws.

Meanwhile, both Texas and Indiana have passed legislation to prevent jurisdictions in their states from creating their own source-of-income laws. At the federal level, several bills banning voucher discrimination have been introduced, but none have passed.

There is evidence that source-of-income laws help voucher holders find apartments: A study comparing rates before and after a source-of-income law went into effect found significant increases in voucher use, ranging between 4 and 11 percentage points.

Yet advocates argue that more is needed. Research suggests source-of-income laws have only a modest impact on moving households to low-poverty areas.

And in some areas, particularly low-poverty neighborhoods, landlords often continue to refuse vouchers despite the presence of such laws. The rate was even higher in low-poverty neighborhoods.

One way to improve the situation is straightforward enough: better enforcement of source-of-income laws. Some cities are starting to take a more active role in this.

For example, the NYC Department of Social Services has brought several lawsuits against large landlords for voucher discrimination. The unit files formal complaints against landlords; its director, Stephanie Rudolph, said another top priority is intervening quickly, enabling voucher holders to move into buildings that had initially ignored them or turned them away. Advocates in New York City who have praised the work of CCHR are pushing the city to provide greater funding for the unit, which currently has only five members.

Another key part of improving voucher programs is assisting voucher holders in their search and documenting discrimination, said Annie Carforo, campaign manager at Neighbors Together, a nonprofit organization that assists low-income New Yorkers. Carforo has talked to hundreds of people — many of them living in city shelters — who struggle to find apartments that will accept their vouchers and who have been given little, if any, assistance in their search. In some cases, people are unaware of the laws prohibiting voucher discrimination.

Investing in a greater level of assistance for voucher holders is also a major component of Creating Moves to Opportunity, an initiative in Seattle and surrounding suburbs that helps families with housing choice vouchers relocate to high-opportunity neighborhoods. As Dylan Matthews recently reported for Vox, a randomized study of the program found big results: 54 percent of families in the treatment group that received counseling moved to a high-opportunity area, compared with 14 percent of families in the control group which had received vouchers only.

In some areas, improving the voucher system could also involve improving the voucher-acceptance process for landlords. Landlords in some cities have pushed back on source-of-income laws, and a recent qualitative study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University showed that some landlords are worried about losing money if they accept vouchers, due to inspections and other kinds of administrative delays.

The researchers suggest that making the process more efficient could help address landlord concerns. Another approach may be increasing landlord incentives, such as bonuses and tax breaks, which a few states and cities already offer. In addition , the Urban Institute recommends greater investment in actively recruiting landlords to participate in voucher programs, particularly in low-poverty neighborhoods.

The vouchers themselves could use improvements, too. In some cases, the lack of housing choice may be caused in part by voucher amounts that are not properly calibrated to local rents. When the law protects people who have Section 8 vouchers, it means that you can't turn away applicants simply because they have Section 8 vouchers.

It doesn't mean that you can't reject them for the same valid reasons you would reject other applicants, such as a negative prior landlord history or a problematic criminal background check.

In fact, if you don't treat Section 8 applicants the same as other applicants, you risk fair housing violations based on other reasons. Don't make screening harder for Section 8 applicants. When you apply more stringent screening requirements to applicants with Section 8 vouchers, you're making it more difficult for such applicants to find housing, which would violate a state or local discrimination ban. Don't steer Section 8 applicants. Deciding to accept Section 8 applicants but only rent apartments to them in certain floors or areas of your building is still illegal because it involves "steering," which limits applicants' housing choices.

Following such a policy also means you would have to start turning away applicants once there were no longer any vacancies in the designated area of your building, even if you had vacancies elsewhere. If you discover that you're not required to take Section 8 and can follow your own policy, these tips can help you avoid fair housing trouble: Don't discriminate based on other protected classes. In the absence of a ban, you simply need to decide whether you will accept applicants who have Section 8 vouchers.

Landlords who go a step further and tie their Section 8 policy to a protected class risk discrimination complaints. For example, choosing to accept Section 8 applicants as long as they're white would violate the FHA's ban on racial discrimination. Be consistent with your Section 8 policy. Make sure you and your staff give the same answer each time a prospect calls or emails you inquiring if you take Section 8. If you're not consistent, you might invite claims that you're discriminating based on other protected classes.

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