Section 8 Housing Houston Tx – 5 Best Ways To Get Listings

There are plenty of Landlords who will rent to you if you get housing/section 8 especially during these times where a lot of people are out of work, the check from housing never bounces and they are guaranteed rent on time every month.

There are  many section 8 housing Houston Tx, and no landlord is permitted to refuse to rent to you on that basis. If you feel you have been discriminated against, report that landlord  Against Discrimination.

Section 8 is a great program that gets a lot of flack due to fraud and abuse of the system.

Why You Should Consider Section 8 Tenants As A Landlord

If you are a landlord and are thinking of getting section 8 tenants, I have listed below 4 reasons why it is going to be worth you while :

1.  There’s less risk to your income, as the local housing authority guarantees a good chunk of their rent.
2. If tenants violate the terms of the lease, you can report them to the housing authority.
3.  They may lose their benefits. Tenants therefore have a big incentive to comply with lease.
4. There’s a big demand for section 8 housing, so should have less vacancy between tenants you have the potential to make a huge, positive impact in a family’s life

Nothing in life comes with advantages only, i have also taken the time to list some of the problems that you may encounter:

1.  Dealing with bureaucracy of local housing authority. knowing what paperwork to file, how/when/where to file, etc.
2. The landlord obviously also needs to comply with the rules of the program. You need to become very familiar with these rules.
3. Your property needs to pass regular inspections. They check that the unit is habitable, so you’d want to address most issues anyways. However, I’ve heard people say that the inspectors may flag minor issues that might otherwise be overlooked by the open market.
4. You will be dealing with low-income tenants. Poverty has the potential to introduce “drama” into people’s lives that others don’t have to contend with.

5 Ways to get Section 8 listings

Section 8 are good, kind-hearted, hardworking people who hit some tough times.

I have a few tips that I hope may help –

1. 1. When on Zillow/Hotpads/Craigslist, etc, try looking for listings that have been on the market a while (on Zillow, you can sort listings by how long they’ve been on the website and how many people have contacted them.) Less competition is helpful.
2.  Go Section8 is a website that you can use to connect with owners that advertise their units to voucher holders.
3.  Try finding/meeting an individual landlord – they’re often most open-minded than big management companies. This was really helpful to me and my family as we found a small 3 unit building that was owner occupied where we could speak directly with the owner and explain our situation.
4. 4. Try writing a rental cover letter before or during the application process, introducing yourself and presenting your positive qualities (ie. great credit, good income, positive rental history, references, etc.) You can mention that you receive housing assistance and that you make 3x whatever your portion is, and the housing assistance is guaranteed, timely income, which is a plus at the moment. This was also really helpful for us in making a good impression.
5. 5. Lastly, Rent to own listings  is a really wonderful resource for the ins and outs of using your voucher.

I hope that helped a bit. Wishing you the best of luck – hang in there.

Matambo,