But some states and municipalities do, often as part of a broader ban on "source of income" or "public assistance status" under the state or local fair housing law. For example, Chicago's municipal code includes a housing discrimination ban based on source of income that includes applicants who have Section 8 vouchers.
Do I Need a Lawyer for My Section 8 Problem? If you are facing issues or discrimination associated with receiving Section 8 assistance, you should absolutely consult with a real estate attorney. They can represent you as needed to ensure your rights and dignity are protected.
When the law protects people who have Section 8 vouchers, it means that you can’t turn away applicants simply because they have Section 8 vouchers. It doesn’t mean that you can’t reject them for the same valid reasons you would reject other applicants, such as a negative prior landlord history or a problematic criminal background check.
An example of this would be how a HUD resident may lawfully post materials in any common areas, with the purpose of informing other residents of their housing rights. Additionally, Section 8 residents have the right to live with others. However, all residents of a single unit must go through the application and approval process.
Section 8 housing vouchers are administered locally by public housing agencies (PHAs), who receive funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The local PHA determines the amount of housing assistance a participating family receives and pays the landlord directly on behalf of the family.
What can cause termination from Section 8 housing? Some common reasons include the tenant (or their guests) engaging in drug-related activity, not paying rent, Page 2 engaging in criminal activity, or violation of terms of the lease, to name a few. Fraud is another reason a recipient may be terminated from the program.
The payments cover some or all of the voucher holder's rent. On average, each household will pay somewhere between 30% and 40% of its income on rent.
Yes. As long as you follow California (and any local) eviction laws, you can evict a Section 8 tenant, as you would any other tenant, for non-payment of rent or other serious or repeated lease violation.
The Section 8 eviction process can take anywhere between two weeks to a few months. If the landlord has valid mandatory grounds for eviction, the process will move along faster as the eviction is less likely to require a lengthy court hearing.
Housing providers who refuse to rent or sell homes to people based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability are violating federal law, and HUD will vigorously pursue enforcement actions against them.
Effective 10/2021 the current payment standards are: 0 Bedroom-$1,672. 1 Bedroom-$2,040. 2 Bedrooms-$2,453.
The maximum housing assistance is generally the lesser of the payment standard minus 30% of the family's monthly adjusted income or the gross rent for the unit minus 30% of monthly adjusted income.
Download the 2019 Voucher Payment Standard​ chart....Voucher Payment Standards.Bedroom SizePayment Standard0$1,5451$1,8752$2,3353$3,2153 more rows•Apr 14, 2019
If you get a section 8 notice, it's the first step your landlord has to take to make you leave your home. You won't have to leave your home straight away. If your section 8 notice is valid, your landlord will need to go to court to evict you. You might be able to challenge your eviction and stay longer in your home.
A landlord in California has no obligation to rent to a Section 8 tenant. Rather, the law prohibits a landlord from discriminating against applicants with Section 8 vouchers. The landlord is obligated to accept the vouchers as a source of income and cannot reject those using the vouchers out of hand.
30 days'In California, eviction actions are called unlawful detainer cases in court. Under state law, a landlord must give their tenant at least 30 days' notice that they need to move out and specify when their tenancy will end.
The federal Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) Program is the primary source of rental assistance for low income, elderly and special needs American citizens. Most tenants pay about 30% of their take-home adjusted income on rent, and the remainder is paid by the program.
If an ad you see online, in a newspaper or on a phone app for a San Francisco rental uses this exclusionary language, this advertiser could be breaking the law. Rules protecting tenants in San Francisco may not apply to nearby cities, counties or states.
A “No Section 8” statement in a rental ad may be permissible in other places. If you feel you’re being denied access to a potential rental property due to your Section 8 voucher status, check your location before seeking help to file a complaint.
Yet, some may landlords continue to blatantly deny Section 8 voucher holders access to their rental processes. Landlords might even state, “ No Section 8” in a print or online advertisement. This is against the law.
In other words, if you are a Section 8 voucher holder, a potential landlord may not hold that against you and deny your rental application in San Francisco.
If you have a Section 8 voucher, protect it. Nationwide many Section 8 waiting lists are either years long or closed. Affordable rental housing programs are slipping from the grasp of potentially qualified individuals. You are not the only renter struggling after the economic and social disruptions of Covid-19.
If you get a termination notice for your Section 8 voucher, please dispute that termination notice. Sample letter here.
Section 8 vouchers, also known as housing choice vouchers, allow a low-income person or family to pay 30ish% of their income as rent to a landlord, and a housing authority pays the rest with funding from HUD.
Before any hearing is scheduled, it's a good idea for the tenant household to find out what's in their file. Voucher holders have the right to access their official file, to see what kind of documents the housing authority has, and what they are using to substantiate the termination. If a tenant is working with an attorney, it will really help if the tenant has: a copy of their termination
Ways for a Tenant to Be Successful in a Hearing: Because the housing authority needs to take into consideration "all relevant circumstances," evidence of rehabilitation, and the impact the decision might have on innocent members of the household, there's a lot of room to dispute even a legally valid termination notice.
The letter, called a termination notice, says something like: "The housing authority thinks there is a problem, and we will stop paying our part of your rent because of that problem.
The tenant/voucher-holder needs to write a letter immediately if they want to dispute this notice. Here is a sample letter to dispute a termination notice. Now, if the tenant is okay with losing their housing, they don't need to write this letter. But, if someone wants any chance to stay in their housing with the support of a Section 8 voucher, it's almost always worthwhile to dispute the termination notice. Because of the small window of time to dispute the notice, the tenant household almost always needs to take action themselves, in order to get support from Legal Action or Judicare.
In order to appeal the decision made by the housing authority, a certiorari action (through a petition or summons and complaint) should be filed in Circuit Court within 30 days of the date you receive the hearing decision. ( Note: If your public housing agency has opted out of Wisconsin Statutes Chapter 68 Municipal Administrative Review, your time limit for filing a certiorari case may be governed by common law certiorari which provides for filings within 6 months of the agency decision.) The Circuit Court reviews the record of the Section 8 hearing and does not take new evidence. A decision is based on the record and written briefs submitted by the parties. You will need to file a motion for a temporary injunction to keep your Section 8 in place pending the Circuit Court review of the hearing decision. You will need to show that you are likely to prevail in the case to obtain the injunction. If you don’t obtain an injunction or get the Section 8 agency to agree to keep making rent assistance payments, the rent assistance payments will not be made to your landlord while the case is being reviewed by the Circuit Court. If the Circuit Court rules in your favor, you can bring a claim for damages under 42 U.S. § 1983 (federal civil rights law) to recover the amount of the rent assistance you were denied by the section 8 agency if it was terminated in violation of a federal law.
Housing choice vouchers are administered locally by public housing agencies (PHAs). The PHAs receive federal funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to administer the voucher program. A family that is issued a housing voucher is responsible for finding a suitable housing unit of the family's choice where ...
Eligibility for a housing voucher is determined by the PHA based on the total annual gross income and family size and is limited to US citizens and specified categories of non-citizens who have eligible immigration status. In general, the family's income may not exceed 50% of the median income for the county or metropolitan area in which the family chooses to live. By law, a PHA must provide 75 percent of its voucher to applicants whose incomes do not exceed 30 percent of the area median income. Median income levels are published by HUD and vary by location. The PHA serving your community can provide you with the income limits for your area and family size.
The housing unit selected by the family must meet an acceptable level of health and safety before the PHA can approve the unit. When the voucher holder finds a unit that it wishes to occupy and reaches an agreement with the landlord over the lease terms, the PHA must inspect the dwelling and determine that the rent requested is reasonable.
When the family is settled in a new home, the family is expected to comply with the lease and the program requirements, pay its share of rent on time, maintain the unit in good condition and notify the PHA of any changes in income or family composition.
Since the demand for housing assistance often exceeds the limited resources available to HUD and the local housing agencies , long waiting periods are common. In fact, a PHA may close its waiting list when it has more families on the list than can be assisted in the near future.
A family that is issued a housing voucher is responsible for finding a suitable housing unit of the family's choice where the owner agrees to rent under the program. This unit may include the family's present residence. Rental units must meet minimum standards of health and safety, as determined by the PHA.
The maximum housing assistance is generally the lesser of the payment standard minus 30% of the family's monthly adjusted income or the gross rent for the unit minus 30% of monthly adjusted income.
To begin with you don't have income until the money is actually received. In the case of money from a lawsuit, it depends on what the money is for. In most cases it is not considered income but is an asset and still does not have to be disclosed until received.
Money received for a personal injury Lawsuit is not taxable income. It does not appear on your tax return. It is an asset though that you would have to list.
The hearing is conducted by a neutral party hired by your PHA. They cannot have been directly linked to the decision to terminate assistance. If you think the person overseeing the hearing is not impartial, you should voice your concerns and request a new person be selected.
Some reasons include being evicted for a serious lease violation, a family member engaging in drug-related criminal activity in the home and owing money to your PHA.
Before the hearing you should review your tenant file and make copies of any documents related to your termination (e.g. lease, program contract, repayment contracts, documented complaints, witness statements, damage claims, police reports). The PHA is required to share any documentation they plan to present at the hearing. You can review these documents to gather evidence and prepare your case. The PHA is not permitted to present any documents they do not share with you beforehand.
In most cases, when a rule is broken, your PHA has the authority to deny assistance on a case-by-case basis — considering all the facts, the severity of the violation and the impact the decision has on other family members. In some cases, a PHA may continue assistance with the stipulation that the violating family member move out. If the violation was drug or alcohol related, a PHA may consider time in a supervised rehab program when making their final decision. The decision is not always black and white. It is in a family’s best interest to retain as much documentation as possible when facing termination.
If this happens to you, you can request a hearing before the deadline set by the PHA. No matter the reason for termination, your assistance will not be terminated before you’ve had a chance to appeal the decision.
The PHA is not permitted to present any documents they do not share with you beforehand. You have the right to have a lawyer or representative at the hearing. There you will be able to present the evidence and witness testimony to support your case. The PHA will have the same opportunity.
In some cases, a PHA may continue assistance with the stipulation that the violating family member move out. If the violation was drug or alcohol related, a PHA may consider time in a supervised rehab program when making their final decision. The decision is not always black and white.
Search online (start by checking the "State Information" section of the HUD website) and contact your local fair housing agency to see if the law protects prospects and tenants based on the fact they have Section 8 vouchers. (If you own multiple properties in different states, counties, or towns, be sure to check the law for each location.) If you learn that state and local laws don't ban this type of discrimination, then it's up to you to decide whether to accept applicants with Section 8 vouchers.
If you're not consistent, you might invite claims that you're discriminating based on other protected classes.
The Rental Applications section of Nolo.com includes several useful articles on how to stay on the right side of fair housing laws when choosing tenants . Also, check out Every Landlord's Legal Guide, by Marcia Stewart, Janet Portman, and Ann O'Connell (Nolo) for detailed advice on housing discrimination and how to avoid fair housing lawsuits.
The Rental Applications section of Nolo.com includes several useful articles on how to stay on the right side of fair housing laws when choosing tenants. Also, check out Every Landlord's Legal Guide, by Marcia Stewart, Janet Portman, and Ann O'Connell (Nolo) for detailed advice on housing discrimination and how to avoid fair housing lawsuits.
Don't discriminate based on other protected classes. In the absence of a ban, you simply need to decide whether you will accept applicants who have Section 8 vouchers. Landlords who go a step further and tie their Section 8 policy to a protected class risk discrimination complaints. For example, choosing to accept Section 8 applicants as long as they're white would violate the FHA's ban on racial discrimination.
Don't steer Section 8 applicants. Deciding to accept Section 8 applica nts but only rent apartments to them in certain floors or areas of your building is still illegal because it involves "steering," which limits applicants' housing choices. Following such a policy also means you would have to start turning away applicants once there were no longer any vacancies in the designated area of your building, even if you had vacancies elsewhere.
Don't steer Section 8 applicants. Deciding to accept Section 8 applicants but only rent apartments to them in certain floors or areas of your building is still illegal because it involves "steering," which limits applicants' housing choices.
If there are two different housing authorities that share jurisdiction for the same area you wish to move, your caseworker is obligated to give you the contact information for both housing authorities. You choose which Housing Authority you want the port packet to be sent.
"Billing" means that the housing authority will take you in as a resident, but it will bill your previous housing authority for its share of your monthly rent.
If there are two different housing authorities that share jurisdiction for the same area you wish to move, your caseworker is obligated to give you the contact information for both housing authorities. You choose which Housing Authority you want the port packet to be sent. If you are not sure which one is best for your situation, you can ask your caseworker to choose for you.
Generally, 30-40% of the adjusted household's income will be the highest that tenants with a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher will pay in rent for the first year. T
In both programs, the tenant typically pays 30% of their monthly income for housing costs. Section 8 may also refer to either the tenant-based Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program or the Project-based Rental Assistance (PBRA) program. It gets its name from being Section 8 of the Housing Act of 1937.
The term Section 8 is usually used to describe the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, which helps tenants pay rent based on their income, and pays participating landlords the remainder of the rent. "Section 8" can also refer to the Section 8 Project-Based Voucher (PBV) program, and the Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) ...
Under the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, most tenants will pay 30% of their monthly income. The Public Housing Authority that issued and approved the voucher will pay the landlord the remainder of the rent and utility costs.
Adults 18 years or older in households earning less than 50% of the Area Median Income (AMI) are eligible for Section 8 assistance. As defined by HUD, a household or family consists of one or more persons.
If the household's income goes well above the income limits, they have the option to remain on the Section 8 program for six months while paying all the monthly rent. If circumstances haven’t changed by the end of the six months, the family will be terminated from the Section 8 program. ...
Government housing assistance programs began in 1937, under President Roosevelt in response to the great depression. Housing programs were refined and redefined over the years until two rental programs were combined in 1998, and renamed the Housing Choice Voucher program, commonly referred to as Section 8. In the United States Code, low income housing rental assistance regulations can be found at 42 U.S.C.§ 1437a (Chapter 8).