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Just saw this article about it being difficult for Section 8 tenants to find landlords to accept their vouchers .
This article is about Long Beach ,CA
This one woman has waited 18 years to get her voucher . But might lose it because she hasn't found a landlord to accept it yet .
Insane that someone would be on a list that long .
There seems to be an entitlement mentality as she mentions she's lived in the city 60 years .
"One such resident is Rhonda Butler, who obtained a voucher in May after spending 18 years on the Section 8 wait list. With nine days left before her final extension runs out, she is on the verge of being homeless.
"No one will take my voucher," she told the City Council on Tuesday, amid a discussion about reforming the program.
"I've been in this city for 60 years," she said. "I'm not asking for a handout, I'm asking for a hand up."
It seems strange that someone wouldn't think of moving to a more affordable part of the country after waiting that long .
Now the government in the area is trying to encourage more landlords to accept Section 8 . Of course most aren't going to accept them unless they have difficulty finding a "cash tenant"
There are some low end neighborhoods where landlords basically have to accept sec 8 to keep a place rented .
Within the last year or so I recall reading an article (I believe it was in the LAT) which stated that Santa Monica's section 8 housing list has taken names on something like 3 days in the last 6-7 years.
Just to be clear, that's only for the opportunity to officially be put on the list...not get a shot at housing...just be put on the waiting list for housing if it ever opens up.
Repeat: 3-days-in-7-years.
Don't get me wrong...I love this town. But as a Rust Belt transplant I just shake my head at the insanity of this place when it comes to this kind of stuff and what goes on inside the local governments.
There's quite a bit of prejudice against Section 8 tenants as well, though admittedly some with good reason. When a person doesn't have a personal investment in a security deposit, they're less likely to care about maintaining the apartment/house. Also, while the tenant themselves may be an upstanding citizen, they often allow friends/family to stay at the property who bring crime, etc to the neighborhood. And, like it or not, there has long been a direct correlation between Section 8 vouchers and increased crime rates.
I am a landlord. I would leave my properties vacant or sell at a loss before renting to Sect 8 tenants. Mine don't comply with the requirements anyway, thankfully.
Landlords have to deal with a mountain of inspections and problems from the Sect 8 programs. Then when the tenants trash your property, they are of course uncollectable - and to top it off, then THEY complain to Sect 8 and the city about conditions in a property THEY WRECKED - and the landlord has to pay to get it fixed, and in some cases can't even evict the tenants or have to PAY the tenants relocation.
Yes, there ARE occasional Sect 8 tenants that are great people and tenants. But the bad ones far outweigh the good.
Plus I suspect in places like Long Beach rents are so high that Sect 8 doesn't provide enough of a match to cover the rent for most properties. You are talking multi million dollar properties down by the beach, and even inland I'd guess most rents are too high for section 8's and those that are affordable the people aren't going to move.
I'm not surprised that Long Beach doesn't have much in the way of Section 8 housing.
Though there are tax benefits to building affordable housing, most of the Section 8 housing I've seen has been in older buildings. These older buildings are being torn down and replaced by offices, hospitals, ... and high rent housing.
Affordable housing, Section 8 or not, continues to be a struggle in many areas.
Within the last year or so I recall reading an article (I believe it was in the LAT) which stated that Santa Monica's section 8 housing list has taken names on something like 3 days in the last 6-7 years.
Just to be clear, that's only for the opportunity to officially be put on the list...not get a shot at housing...just be put on the waiting list for housing if it ever opens up.
Repeat: 3-days-in-7-years.
Don't get me wrong...I love this town. But as a Rust Belt transplant I just shake my head at the insanity of this place when it comes to this kind of stuff and what goes on inside the local governments.
Where I live, waitlists are opened when the expected wait time gets down to about 12 months. The lists are opened for ONE WEEK and then closed again for about five years - whenever wait times again get down to about 12 months.
But you cannot directly sign up on the waiting list - what you sign up for is a LOTTERY to select 3,000 lucky 'winners' who get a spot on the waiting list. All who mist that one week signup, or who do not 'win' the lottery, must wait another five years until the next lottery signup.
And then if you eventually get a voucher, you have a limited time frame (30 - 60 days ?) to find a landlord willing to accept it; unused vouchers expire if not 'redeemed' timely.
Just saw this article about it being difficult for Section 8 tenants to find landlords to accept their vouchers .
This article is about Long Beach ,CA
This one woman has waited 18 years to get her voucher . But might lose it because she hasn't found a landlord to accept it yet .
Insane that someone would be on a list that long .
There seems to be an entitlement mentality as she mentions she's lived in the city 60 years .
"One such resident is Rhonda Butler, who obtained a voucher in May after spending 18 years on the Section 8 wait list. With nine days left before her final extension runs out, she is on the verge of being homeless.
"No one will take my voucher," she told the City Council on Tuesday, amid a discussion about reforming the program.
"I've been in this city for 60 years," she said. "I'm not asking for a handout, I'm asking for a hand up."
It seems strange that someone wouldn't think of moving to a more affordable part of the country after waiting that long .
Now the government in the area is trying to encourage more landlords to accept Section 8 . Of course most aren't going to accept them unless they have difficulty finding a "cash tenant"
There are some low end neighborhoods where landlords basically have to accept sec 8 to keep a place rented .
Moving is not always easy so easy. What about people who are deeply rooted in their current location, due to family ties and obligations? Not everyone is willing, or even able, to just pull up stakes and move to a place where they know, literally, absolutely no one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Natural510
There's quite a bit of prejudice against Section 8 tenants as well, though admittedly some with good reason. When a person doesn't have a personal investment in a security deposit, they're less likely to care about maintaining the apartment/house. Also, while the tenant themselves may be an upstanding citizen, they often allow friends/family to stay at the property who bring crime, etc to the neighborhood. And, like it or not, there has long been a direct correlation between Section 8 vouchers and increased crime rates.
How about the fact that it is their home? I can't imagine trashing my home, even if I paid nothing for it at all. BTW, the trashing of a house is not limited to Section 8 recipients, or to poor neighborhoods. There is a house in our subdivision that is currently being remodeled, because the OWNERS, an otherwise very nice family with lots (seriously, lots) of children left it in an absolute mess.
As for having family and friends over, I suspect if there were more affordable housing units available, this would not be such a problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jamies
I am a landlord. I would leave my properties vacant or sell at a loss before renting to Sect 8 tenants. Mine don't comply with the requirements anyway, thankfully.
Landlords have to deal with a mountain of inspections and problems from the Sect 8 programs. Then when the tenants trash your property, they are of course uncollectable - and to top it off, then THEY complain to Sect 8 and the city about conditions in a property THEY WRECKED - and the landlord has to pay to get it fixed, and in some cases can't even evict the tenants or have to PAY the tenants relocation.
Yes, there ARE occasional Sect 8 tenants that are great people and tenants. But the bad ones far outweigh the good.
Plus I suspect in places like Long Beach rents are so high that Sect 8 doesn't provide enough of a match to cover the rent for most properties. You are talking multi million dollar properties down by the beach, and even inland I'd guess most rents are too high for section 8's and those that are affordable the people aren't going to move.
Are your remarks based on personal experience? I'm not asking sarcastically at all, but you seem to know a lot about Section 8 renters for someone whose properties do not meet the requirements. Past experience, stories from other landlords?
As with any landlord/tenant relationship, there are bad apples on both sides. I suspect that there ARE bad Section 8 renters, but there are, I am quite certain, also bad landlords who rent to these folks, doing the absolute minimum to stay on the program, all the while with the knowledge that their tenants probably have no other place to go. It sounds to me like there is great potential for abuse on both ends.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GotHereQuickAsICould
I'm not surprised that Long Beach doesn't have much in the way of Section 8 housing.
Though there are tax benefits to building affordable housing, most of the Section 8 housing I've seen has been in older buildings. These older buildings are being torn down and replaced by offices, hospitals, ... and high rent housing.
Affordable housing, Section 8 or not, continues to be a struggle in many areas.
^^^This. We need more affordable housing in this country, and we especially need it in affluent communities, where people enjoy the services of people working in low-wage service sector jobs, yet seem to be unwilling to do anything to ensure that those workers can actually live near their places of employment.
Not all tenants fit the negative stereotype. I know an elderly woman, worked all her life but her husband ran off with all their money, leaving her with his debts. (con artist type) and she ended up homeless about a year before retirement.
She moved in with friends and eventually got aection 8.
Her apartment is impeccable. She has planted flowers and is an ideal tenant. She had to use the profit from the sale of her house to pay the nutty ex husband's debts that he left her with so she exists on her social security. But due to section 8, she is able to live in a safe, decent apartment not too far from her town and her friends. She had to scrape together a $1000 security deposit, btw. Bad things can happen to good people.
I have relatives who have had terrible experiences renting to people who were not on section 8...one who never paid and had to be evicted and others who trashed the apartments. Scumbags can be found anywhere.
If this woman is 60, that means she was 42 when she applied for a Sec. 8 waver. i.e. Working age.
Why didn't she do something with her life instead of waiting 18 years for a handout? This is what's wrong with the system.
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