The Section 8 program was conceived as a way to allow low-income families access to affordable housing in their neighborhood of choice by paying the difference between 30 percent of renters’ incomes and market rent. But the effects of landlord discrimination, program disinvestment, and unfettered rent increases created a gap between the large numbers of renters who need vouchers and the few who receive them.
[RELATED ARTICLE: Universal Housing Vouchers: A Promise or a Pipe Dream?]
In September, Shelterforce’s Shelby R. King was invited to participate in a virtual “Housing Hangout.” Panelists discussed the history of the Section 8 program, its strong points and failings, and ideas for large-scale reforms.
Other panelists included H. Jacob Carlson, assistant professor of sociology at Kean University; Ingrid Gould Ellen, Paulette Goddard professor of urban policy and planning at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and faculty director at the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy; and Will Fischer, senior director for housing policy and research at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“Housing Hangouts” are a recurring event hosted and moderated by Bruce Rich, director of the Center for Housing and Community Studies at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
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3 thoughts on “A Critical Look at the Section 8 Program, a Webinar”
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Try talking to to people on the program that’s living it on section 8 program like me you get better information on whats going on or the will be a whole new breed of homelessness on section 8 because that me right now. Thank you for letting have the floor on here.
Landlords are accused of being discriminatory against the tenant in Section 8. The truth is the Housing Authorities have unlimited access to our livelihood without any recourse except the lengthy and costly court system. Fact: $21,200 was recouped from my landlord account because the tenant supposedly vacated 14 months prior to the official move-out date. Tenant gave her written Notice and moved out accordingly. Several weeks later, the PHA claims the tenant had been in another State for over a year and even though the landlord had no knowledge of it, HUD policies force them to recoup the 14 months of rent from the landlord and the landlord can pursue the tenant for reimbursement. That is financial ruin for renting a house in good faith and doing nothing wrong. Having rent confiscated would never happen with non-assisted tenants. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to continue working with PHA’s and it really is heartbreaking for the tenant and their children.
Local Housing Authorities can retroactively determine a termination date and recoup rents by withholding payments due the landlord for other properties in the Program. Tenants are offered an appeal process but not landlords. We have no avenue to challenge their policy interpretation or decisions, they can just financially devastate my livelihood. Only option is the expense and time to file a lawsuit and finding an attorney that wants to fight a Government Agency. They wrongfully recouped $21,200 from my landlord account and that was nearly 3 years ago. I have spent more than that on attorney fees and we haven’t even got to trial yet.
I “partnered” with them for over a decade and had no idea they could do this until they actually did it. Abuse of power, no accountability, no recourse to appeal, no transparency on how they implement policy, outright bullies. Unfortunately, I need to have all my voucher tenants to vacate as I cannot afford another financial hit when I did nothing wrong nor was I cited for any wrongdoing. The tenant was cited for violating her obligations and instead of pursuing her, they took the funds from me and tell me to pursue the tenant for reimbursement. By definition, Section 8 tenants don’t have $21k laying around to pay me. I will spend the remainder of my days forewarning other abiding landlords of the unwritten risks and unlimited financial exposure they face by accepting vouchers. Sorry for the families but I need to protect my family from further financial devastation.