Table of Contents
About the Program
Searching for affordable housing? If so, the Section 8 housing assistance payments program is your answer! Section 8 is also known as the Housing Choice Voucher program. This program was first introduced by Congress in the year 1937 as part of the Housing and Development Act.
It focuses on assisting low-income families and individuals. This helps them get better access to safe and affordable housing in the United States. This has helped millions of Americans to obtain affordable housing over the years.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is in charge of overseeing the funds to be allotted to the local Public Housing Agencies (PHAs). This oversees that the program is accessible by all at the local level as well.
If you qualify and meet the eligibility criteria for the program, candidates will receive a type of voucher. This voucher can be used to rent an apartment or house from a participating landlord.
Since the program does not limit to any specific type of housing, therefore, one can find different types of housing. This includes apartments, houses, duplexes, and even mobile homes that are part of the participants in the program.
Statistically understanding Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments Program
The requests for Section 8 housing have grown rapidly ever since this Act was first passed in the year 1937. This may be because of the increasing numbers of disparities between the rich and the poor. However, this is not to say that, every low-income household candidate that applies for this program will be accepted.
There are certain guidelines that the program follows. This ensures that there will be no inequalities when it comes to availing of this program.
For instance, if you belong to the group where the total household earns an income of 30% or less of the median income for your respective area; that particular applicant or household will have the first priority treatment to issue the Housing Choice Voucher.
Studies have shown that about approximately 4,800,000 households receive housing help in one way or the other from federal housing administration. And, only around 2,100,000 receive the Section 8 housing vouchers each year. Moreover, these families or individuals under this program continue to receive housing help till about 6 years or so. After which they are responsible to fund on their own with the money saved!
This benefits more than 80% of the Americans who registers under the Section 8 program to help them with their rent payment and also to save up responsibly. Thus, they can move out without any financial difficulties when the time comes to do so!
How to qualify for the Section 8 program?
To be eligible to apply for the Section 8 program is primarily based on two criteria. They are: the size of your household and your family’s income. The household group could consist of the following:
- A household with or without children. Here, Children temporarily placed in a foster care or home are also counted and included as part of the total household family.
- Household that consists of one or more people who are above 60 years of ages or older, that lives together. A live-in caretaker can be included in the total number of the household members as well.
- A household where there are one or more disabled individuals. Their caretakers are also included in the total number of household members.
So, in short it does not matter whether the size of your family is small or large. In fact, even if you have large household with larger income; if you still meet the eligibility requirements; then, you are still eligible to avail the services of the Section 8 program.
The introduction of this program was to help out low-income families. Therefore, a family has to have between 30 to 50 percent of the median income to be qualified as a low-income household. This is important because the government generally gets thousands and thousands of applications every year for this program.
However, the first priority is always given to those individuals and families with an extremely low income; or people who are over the ages of 60 years; or the physically disabled applicants living in extreme poverty.
Here, it includes caretakers or live-in assistants of the older age group and the physically challenged applicants as part of their household members!
Other important additional requirements
An important addition to qualify for the Section 8 program is that, you have to either possess US citizenship or have eligible immigrant status. In addition to that, regardless of your citizenship, you need to have a clean criminal record. (any sexual offenders will not be entertained for the program.) All relevant documents collected by the Public Housing Authority will be verified with official local agencies, banks, and employers!
Subsidized mortgages
Applicants looking for subsidized mortgages should have an income of a minimum $10,300 per annum at the least. In addition, they must have been employed at their current job for a period of at least one year to qualify for the mortgage subsidy!
Priority Standards
The authorities of the Local public housing have the full rights to assign groups based on the levels of priorities. These groups of priorities include:
- people over the age of 62 years;
- those working for more than 42 hours a week;
- people and families living in a shelter or are homeless and displaced;
- those households who continue to pay more than 50 percent of their income only on housing alone!
Qualifications for eligible housing
To find eligible housing, the applicant and the location must meet the qualifications required for Section 8 voucher. They include:
- The housing lease should at least lasts for one year
- The applicant is also expected to be able to pay 30 percent of the housing at the market value
- Size of the house must match to the size of that particular household
- The landlord of the house should agree to be a part of the Section 8 program; and follow all terms and conditions that come with it.
- The unit should also pass the inspection process made by the Public Housing Authority.
Working of Section 8
The working of the Section 8 housing assistance payments program begins with the application process. And once it is approved, you will get a voucher that can be used to rent an apartment or house from any of the participating landlords. The applicant will be responsible to pay only a certain portion of the rent, and the voucher covers the remaining balance.
Here, you do not have to worry about how much you need to pay. This is because you will only need to pay the amount depending on your income. Applicants are responsible for paying any additional utilities which are not included in the rent. The application process is long and can take up to many months until you are notified of the results and whether or not you have qualified for the program!
Pros and Cons of Section 8 Housing Program
Like any other program, there are always pros and cons to justify an act or program. Section 8 housing assistance payments, though a good initiative on the part of the federal government is far from being a perfect program.
Affordable homes
First things first, an advantage of this program is that it has gone on to provide millions of Americans from low income households with a roof over their heads. As we all know, living in the United States is not cheap. This is a great initiative because all Americans can now have a house.
As per data collected in 2021, the average rent paid by recipients of Section 8 was $50 per month. Thus, it is helping millions of Americans to save up on their money more responsibly. Moreover, it helps them to get back on their feet and ultimately out of the Section 8 housing assistance payments program and go on to buy homes that they can actually own and afford.
Critics of racism
On the other hand, many have criticized Section 8 and have associated it with racism. They claimed that, this program promotes hate crimes, runs down property values, and just about anything where the privileged white people humiliate the poor black people.
However, you can’t ignore the fact there are in fact, thousands of white people enrolled on Section 8 since they also suffer from heinous crimes daily with lack of housing facilities etc. And so, it won’t be fair to criticize this housing program based on racism.
Timely Payments and Fees
As for the landlords renting out their properties through this program, an advantage is that you will always be paid in time every month by the government until your lease agreement.
And in supplement to that, many cities give full freedom to the landlords to increase and raise their annual rental fees up to 5 to 8 percent at their convenience. But this is done depending on the annual income of the tenants and their estimated utility costs for their house.
Lower property values
Another disadvantage is that you will find higher crimes in cities and towns of the United States. There are higher proportion of Section 8 but with overall lower property values. It has also been brought to the notice that, the Government forces the landlords and sellers into accepting the Section 8 agreement. For which, most of the people jump at the opportunity because of course, they will have the guarantee of the timely payment of money from the government.
However, in retrospect, thanks to this program, it solves the problems of the homeless and issues of poverty and inequality.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, Section 8 housing is a law that was passed back in 1937. Its focus is on providing low cost housing facilities by the federal government in partnership with house tenants in the United States. Under this program, the government will pay part of or all off the cost of a property for low income households includes single Americans or the entire families.
In recent years, we have witnessed a massive growth of benefactors of Section 8 with an estimation of approximately around 5.2 million Americans enrolled in this program. Hence, if you are on the lookout for such programs, you can head to the official website, check their eligibility criteria, and apply for the program if you qualify for it!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Section 8 all about?
Section 8 is an act introduced to focus in assisting the low income families and individuals by helping them get better access to safe and affordable housing in the United States.
When was the Section 8 act introduced?
Section 8 program was first introduced by the Congress in the year 1937 as part of the Housing and Development Act.
Who is eligible to apply for the Section 8 program?
To be eligible to apply for the Section 8 program, it is primarily based on two criteria, the size of your household and your family’s annual income.
Can the landlords increase the rent of the tenants enrolled under Section 8 program?
Yes. In fact, many cities gives full freedom to the landlords to increase and raise their annual rental fees up to 5 to 8 percent at their convenience. But this depends on the annual income of the tenants and their estimated utility costs for their house.
Do we have to be an American citizen to qualify for this program?
So, to qualify for the Section 8 housing assistance payments program, you have to either possess US citizenship or have eligible immigrant status. In addition to that, regardless of your citizenship, you need to have a clean criminal record and any sexual offenders will not be entertained for the program.
Who oversees the funds allocated for the beneficiaries of Section 8 program?
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is in-charge of overseeing the funds to be allotted to the local Public Housing Agencies (PHAs), which oversees that the program is accessible by all at the local level as well.
[s1][s2][s3]
