Section 8 housing?

[FFC]

I'm not sure if this is in other states, but is anyone familiar with it?

If so, I need to know how to go about renting our house out to section 8 housing. I'm on the Housing Authority website right now, and I'm bout to make a phone call, but I don't want to sound like a complete dork when I call them. I mean, are we applying to rent our house to section 8, or what? I have no idea how this works. :purplex:

[Kfancii]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_8_(housing)

Maybe this will help some?

[Nikita706]

I know this may sound mean, but I'd be careful about getting involved with section 8. We had a couple houses down the street from us begin renting to section 8 tenants, and every single one of the houses has pretty much been thrashed beyond repair. I've heard that it makes it a lot more difficult for the owners too. As long as everything's up to code, then you have nothing to worry about, but every tenant that moves in gets an initial inspection and generally requires the owners to pay to fix any number of things that most tenants would just let slide (new building codes and what not). Not to mention, every section 8 tenant has been either a drug dealer, a drug addict or is a family with a million kids trying to cram into a 1- or 2-bedroom house/apartment that ends up thrashed by the time they move out. I apologize because I know that there are honest, hard-working section 8 tenants out there, but this what we've seen time and time again, and it gets really frustrating when our nice, kid-friendly neighborhood suddenly turns into a drug haven (and looks like hell to boot).

Of course, I don't know much about it or what the statistics and legality of anything is, but this is just what we've seen in our neighborhood. It's totally up to you though, I just want to make sure that you don't end up in trouble or getting sued by some deadbeat (which has also happened to a few owners in our neighborhood) who trips on a board on the porch and decides it's your fault. :purplex:

[FFC]

You have some great points. I am going to email that to my mom (who owns the house). I found out where to sign up for Section 8, but you're right, it is a heck of a liability!

Thank you both!

[Nikita706]

You have some great points. I am going to email that to my mom (who owns the house). I found out where to sign up for Section 8, but you're right, it is a heck of a liability!

Thank you both!

No problem! I just want to see everything work out for the best for you (and your Mom). Hope everything goes well, whatever you decide!

[lizardbnorton]

Robert's mom has rented to section 8 people and she's had the same issues that Nikita is talking about. Section 8 pays part of the rent and she had a lot of trouble getting the rest of the rent from the tenants. If you are going to go with these people I would definitely check out where they previously lived to see if the land lord or whoever can tell you anything about them.

[FFC]

Thank you and you have brought up some great points. The more I think about it, the more I think of the liability that my mom is facing as a homeowner.

[PGDesigns]

The neighborhood I grew up in used to be very family/kid-friendly until one man bought several houses and turned them into Section 8 housing. They can not keep tenants, and whenever one family moves out, the houses have had to be gutted. They were completely ruined and drastically brought down the property value of the homes around them.

All but one of the families that I know of had at least 3 or 4 kids who were always getting into trouble--drugs, vandalism, noise.

It's definitely NOT something I'd consider getting into.

[Nikita706]

We just had some people move into one of the section 8 houses next door this weekend. All of the sudden our neighborhood is filled with Mexican Gangsters. I went out at 10 last night to let my dog out before bed and there were 2 gangster guys walking by. Then this morning, there was another one hanging around when I left for work at 8. I suppose it normally wouldn't be weird, but we live way back on a secluded dirt road next to the forest, so I don't expect to see anyone around, much less scary looking gangster guys...And I hate to say this because it's totally prejudiced, but it really bothers me. I grew up in that neighborhood, and it's totally gone downhill.

[crazycatlady]

my dad owns 2 doubles in the downtown dayton area and theres no way he could rent them out without section 8. people there just cant afford it. he has only had one problem. this girl had her boyfriend move in without telling him and he had to evict her for not paying rent. then when we went to clean the house it was nasty. but the woman in the other side has always been nice, pays rent on time etc... i can ask him how he goes about setting it up. im pretty sure he just talks to housing authority like you said. maybe try talking to a real person. i hate recordings - they never get anything done.

[FFC]

Thank you all. I have been talking to my mom about it, and we have to talk about it in person. Talking over the phone just sucks. So I told her about this thread and when she gets online she's going to take a look at all ya'lls input!