Section 8...."The Future?" - Posted by acw

Posted by acw on January 06, 2010 at 18:37:11:

DJ…i am i S.Fla. and my properties are mostly in west palm beach.

Don’t know about the Dept of Homeless Services. Wonder if they have an office down here?

Section 8…“The Future?” - Posted by acw

Posted by acw on January 06, 2010 at 11:23:45:

Just got off the phone with a friend of mine who’s having trouble finding Section 8 tenants to rent his property.

This is in S.Fla…so i don’t know about the rest of the country…

What’s everyone’s opinion on the future of Section 8 tenants and their ability to get certified with HUD so that they can continue to get free rent?

Your constructive input is greatly appreciated…

~T

There is no Future—there is only NOW - Posted by Jimmy

Posted by Jimmy on January 08, 2010 at 14:10:16:

Section 8 funding is a product of legislation, which makes it undependable and vulnerable to the winds of politics. I’ve seen periods of time when vouchers were everywhere, and I’ve seen periods of time when there were very scarce.

So what do you do?

welll…I’m not sure. but here’s what you DON’T do:

  1. don’t acquire units in a place where there are no regular, non-vouchered tenants. to do so makes you a welfare case yourself.

  2. don’t use elevated S8 rental rates when you evaluate acquisitions. use sustainable market rents.

Re: Section 8…“The Future?” - Posted by Kristine-CA

Posted by Kristine-CA on January 06, 2010 at 18:41:09:

My farm area housing dept isn’t accepting any Section-8 apps and
hasn’t for some time. My home town has a two year waiting list.

There are plenty of vouchers out there in my farm, but there are also
tons of decent rentals on the market.

Given that CA is out of money and giveth and taketh away often,
Section 8 is at risk in my opinion. As of July of 2009 we have no dental
care for adults on Medicaid in CA. None whatsoever. They will pull a
tooth as part of health care, but no fillings, no repairs, no cleanings.
They put a hold on all Healthy Family applications (a low cost insurance
program) for several months, so tens of thousands of children went
without insurance as they didn’t qualify for Medi-Cal but their
applications couldn’t be processed.

I originally thought that being a vendor to the state government was a
good business model, whether it was as a landlord, health provider or
vendor of services. Now I’m not so sure. If the state can send you an
IOU for goods/services they already received, which they have done
this year, I’d say that no program is exempt from funding problems.

Re: Section 8…“The Future?” - Posted by IB (NJ)

Posted by IB (NJ) on January 06, 2010 at 16:16:10:

In oura area, if you have a nice looking apartment in a decent to nice area, you’ll find section 8 all day long. However, if you’re located in a crappy area and/or have a crappy apartment to rent, you will not get a section 8 tenant. They are looked at as the ‘cream of the crop’ in the inner cities here. It’s harder for someone to get on section 8 (background checks, lots of paperwork and followup, etc.) and stay on. So anyone who is responsible enough can get it. If you’re a dead beat, particularly in the important aspects of your life like HOUSING, you will end up on a program here called TRA (Temporary Rental Assistance) which is ran by the federal welfare program (administered by the county). The program has a bad rap for both its clientele AND its employees (who are usually 1 level up from the clientele when it comes to professionalism). Sec. 8 is always on time here (usually early). Howeverr, my brother has a couple of tra tenants (from buying a property in a REAL warzone) and is waiting for over $3k in rent.

Having said that, the housing market would be turned upside down, a sharp spike in crime would destroy any progress made here in Newark in the last 8 years and once again ‘urban flight’ would be the norm. Can’t see Sec. 8 going anywhere without some sort of replacement.

Ib

Re: Section 8…“The Future?” - Posted by David Krulac

Posted by David Krulac on January 06, 2010 at 16:10:10:

here in Pa. there have been several articles about the long waiting lists for Section 8. With the bad economy people are no getting off of Section * at the same rate as in the past. so the attrition rate is way down and the waiting list is way up. some counties have waiting lists that are yearsS long. In addition with rents rising in some areas the Federal funding does not go as far as it did with lower rents.
It a sign of the times.

Re: Section 8…“The Future?” - Posted by matx

Posted by matx on January 06, 2010 at 15:10:33:

In our area, there’s no shortage of Sec. 8 tenants, but in some areas:

Re: Section 8…“The Future?” - Posted by DJ-nyc

Posted by DJ-nyc on January 06, 2010 at 12:19:17:

Wow. No shortage of Section 8 renters here. I heard a rumor they were phasing out Section 8; not sure how true that is though. I had an ad running last month; and got over 200 calls for section 8 and other low income programs here in the apple. With the current state of the economy and the amount of people needing low income housing, I can’t see why they would get rid of the program. As a LL I like getting my money on time every month.
DJ-nyc

Re: Section 8… - Posted by Mark (SDCA)

Posted by Mark (SDCA) on January 08, 2010 at 12:13:56:

Given that CA is out of money and giveth and taketh away often,
Section 8 is at risk in my opinion

I don’t understand this statement. Section 8 is a Federal program that is administered locally.

Can you elaborate?

Thanks,

Mark

Re: Section 8…“The Future?” - Posted by matx

Posted by matx on January 06, 2010 at 21:04:05:

Obviously, you didn’t live in Orange County when it went bankrupt in the 90s. A lot of small businesses in the same building where I had an office thought doing business with the govt was a good idea until they didn’t get paid for months!

Kristine… - Posted by acw

Posted by acw on January 06, 2010 at 20:22:05:

Good Story. Your Governor was in the new (i think yesterday) asking for more money from the Feds. ITS AMAZING TO ME…to think that California (the richest residents in the country) have a state government is BROKE.

I mean…isn’t this where Silicon Valley is located?

What happened to California (i guess that should be the topic for another post).

~T

Re: Section 8…“The Future?” - Posted by Desia Davis

Posted by Desia Davis on June 16, 2011 at 18:16:10:

Hello my name is Desia im 19 and
looking for advice on how to get TRA

Agreed… - Posted by acw

Posted by acw on January 06, 2010 at 16:48:01:

Oh…i can’t imagine what would happen if Section 8 were to disappear, not to mention the social unrest and Jails filling to the BRINK(oh wait a minute…the jails are already filled to the Brink…sorry).

The government will just keep printing the money…and taxing the haves.

Re: Section 8…“The Future?” - Posted by DJ-nyc

Posted by DJ-nyc on January 06, 2010 at 16:56:39:

Thanks for the link. I am in negotiations with a non-profit agency now for one of my houses. Time to move forward. NYC Leased housing was terrible anyway.
DJ-nyc

Re: Section 8…“The Future?” - Posted by acw

Posted by acw on January 06, 2010 at 14:21:34:

Well…i’m sure many people would like to keep getting free rent for-ever, but there’s a little problem called “Money.”

Don’t know how long this program will survive, especially if there are budget cuts. I know in my area it takes about 1yr to get approved for section 8 housing.

Moreover, i have “heard” that section 8 tenants are harder to find now.

Re: Section 8…“The Future?” - Posted by Rick Ewens

Posted by Rick Ewens on January 06, 2010 at 13:04:08:

In Burlungton NC the entity that handles Sec 8 is Graham Housing and they are out of $$$ for HUD approval

Re: Section 8… - Posted by Kristine-CA

Posted by Kristine-CA on January 09, 2010 at 18:09:28:

You are correct in that S8 is federally funded. It’s probably not going
to get cancelled anytime soon. However the only new vouchers issued
n the last 10 years or so have come from those issued to replace
demolished project housing, etc. I mis-spoke by putting S8 in the
same category as other CA programs.

Section 8 in my farm county has become a competitive for LL. No new
vouchers and lots on the rental market. My concern is how to get
access to it and/or to the other supplementary funding (county rent
programs and locally funded homeownership/lease programs).

Re: Section 8… - Posted by David Krulac

Posted by David Krulac on January 08, 2010 at 14:34:24:

section 8 funds come from the UD Dept. of HUD. they give the funds to a local/county/city government agency to administer for them.

disbanding the program would have to be a national Federal decision, not a state issue.

Can you really see the Federal government abandoning this program given the current climate?

Re: Kristine… - Posted by Gene

Posted by Gene on January 06, 2010 at 21:14:52:

The new American way…failure is rewarded by bailouts.

The California has made a lot of mistakes…it obviously deserves to be rewarded.

Re: Agreed… - Posted by Gene

Posted by Gene on January 06, 2010 at 21:17:29:

Those printing presses sure are getting a work out. I hope they are up to the task.