What are your qualifiers? Mine would be the same for market tenants:

1. CS above 600

2. Good PREVIOUS LL references (not current LL)

3. Makes 3X their share of the rent (employment--skin in the game)

Tenant's share is 250 then they'd have to be making at least $750 a month in preferably employment--or another gov't check that they get.

Don't like the stay-at-home all dayers though. They tend to navel gaze and whine over everything.

I had to navigate the hood long before Al Gore invented the internet. So credit scores were not available.

The S8 peeps payment would be SO SMALL (less than $50) they all "qualified".

Little bit funny, I had a 3 family building in what was the Section 707 program. HUD committed to filling it ... all the time. I COuLD NOT put any one else in the place. One family used the apartment as a "summer home". They had a place in PR and had family in my hood. So they would snow bird to the S8 apartment to visit family then fly back to PR. The place was so lightly used and the checks were mailed on time all the time from HUD.

I agree with NE that S8 building choice is also important. I had a small, 3 BR, 1 bath, slab SFR as a S8 home for 25 years.

Housing Authorities primarily use number of bedrooms to determine how much they will pay, not size. So keep it small to deter the tenant from moving in extra people. Single bathroom helps too.

I'd be happy to accept Section 8 if the applicant could pass all of my written criteria that I apply evenly and fairly to each and every applicant. If they have excellent credit, no criminal record, 2 good landlord references, verifiable income, no unqualified roommates or pets, and they pass the 2 minute housing inspection, why wouldn't I take them?

Mapleaf,

I LIKE Sec8. At one point we had 34 homes on it. We make a lot of money thru Sec8.

Screening #1: Your local office. Not all are easy to work with. Mine is. Ask around at your local LL meeting.

#2: Don't be SNIOPed - Susceptible to the Negative Influence of Other People. Only take advice form happy, wealthy LLs. LLs who had a bad experience will not be the same in every area.

#3 Sec8 recipients are just like any other applicant - good and bad. SO we screen with the exact same criteria

EXCEPT for the money, credit, and job stability checklist items.

They are BROKE so they have no credit or money, and often no or minimal jobs.

Sec8 doe snot screen for anything other than NEED. The LL mist screen for cooperation, housekeeping, etc.

But some are single moms taking classes to become nurses, etc. Some have middle or upper class backgrounds in a temporary situation which qualifies them for free rent. A recent helper in my office came from a wealthy family, 2 kids but the baby daddy was in prison - so she qualified for free rent. She worked for me part time but not enough to lose her rent assistance while she finished her degree.

Sec8 pays above market rents.

Sec8 folks qualify for all kinds of extra benefits - food, utils, medical....

They don't have to earn 4 times the rent. The Sec8 program pays all or most of MY rent, they pay $O or some, like up to $100 - which they earn thru social security.

Sec8 and SSI are more stable than a person with a job!

They still have to pay a deposit which is often a gift from a local agency.

The 2 Minute In Home Visit is doubly important. The Sec8 office trains them to dress and speak nicely, and you don't know what else is happening at their home - animals, cars, siblings...

Downside: you have to keep extra people happy, like the caseworker, annual insepctions, some paperwork

AND

be patient! You are dealing with the govt and govt workers, and a level of entitlement.

In the end, we have good people who dare worthy of assistance (handicapped, single mothers trying to better themselves, etc)

BRAD

Brad I am one of the naysayers.

I agree that there are people who truly need assistance.

Unfortunately almost all of the ones in the system are playing the system.

We had a very poorly run HA in my area. I hear they are under new management of sorts. But I did start getting bills from them about overpayment of a tenant from 2019. I think I finally got it all sorted out. Still a pain and I still do not like the idea of working harder to get paid, especially when I find out how much tax paid assistance the scammers are getting.