Section 8 for Dummies -- Landlord Section 8 Training 101 -- What is Section 8?
/What on earth is Section 8? How do people even get on the program? Why am I making videos and blogs about it?
What is it?
During the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Housing and Urban Development started a program to provide housing people with low income and it’s all spelled out in Section 8 of the Housing Act of 1937. The industry standard term is Section 8 but the proper term is Housing Choice Voucher program.
HUD provides money to Public Housing Agencies all over the country.
With that money, these PHAs distribute vouchers to people of low income.
Voucher holders/tenants take those vouchers to landlords who have their houses for rent. The landlord is not required to rent to them. But some states have laws about discriminating against someone’s source of income.
The landlord then runs a background check on the voucher holder as they would any other tenant.
If the landlord chooses to rent to this person, the landlord will have to fill out a Move Packet that the tenant provides.
Then an inspector from that PHA will come to the house to check for safety issues.
Once the house has passed the inspection, the landlord receives the rent payments directly deposited in his or her account each month.
The tenant has to pay 30% of her income toward rent. So the landlord only needs to collect that amount. Sometimes the tenant does not make enough income to pay any of her rent and Section 8 pays the full amount.
Why am I making these videos?
My husband Pat and I are Detroit property investors and landlords. We currently buy houses in Detroit, renovate them, place a tenant, and sell the houses to savvy investors all over the country and the world. We also started a property management company here in Detroit. I’m also the educator of my local REIA group, REIA of Oakland. I’m making these videos to bring excellency to landlords. I also hope someone will like to buy houses from us in Detroit after watching these videos and learning about my expertise as a property manager.
How do Tenants Get on Section 8
They need to be considered low income by government standards. They need to be a U.S. citizen or have papers. Or they can have a disability, be homeless or be a victim of domestic assault. Veterans also have a voucher program that is similar.
Please see my blog and videos for more details about how to get on Section 8.
I hope this is crystal clear what Section 8 is. Please look through all my videos and blogs for more details that may interest you about Section 8.