Topic: Section 8 Trends? Keeping, Dropping, Adding More?

This could be a survey, but I'm interested in trends across the country with occupancy higher than ever in a lot of areas.

I stopped taking vouchers several years ago because the time from application to move in took about 3 weeks. With only 47 units, the loss to vacancy was just too much. There was also the amount of complaints coming from the residents who expected us to fix every little tiny thing in an older apartment that had nothing to do with health or safety issues.

What are you doing different with vouchers compare to 2 years ago?

I am in Youngstown, Ohio. I stopped taking section 8 vouchers 5 years ago. One inspector wrote that she could not find a smoke alarm in the first floor of the house. My tenant and I both laughed. Because teo years before another inspector said that the smoke alarm was too high for the tenant to reach. I attached another one to the wall. The following year another inspector said it was not close enough to the ceiling. So instead of taking the old one down, I attached another one on the wall at a higher location. So therefor there were then two smoke alarms on the same wall on the first floor and the inspector could have asked where there were when she was standingt next to them and next to us.

Our laws recently changed so that all landlords are required to accept section 8. I don't mind having section 8 residents, but I dislike the amount of extra work. We have to schedule inspections, wait for inspections, schedule extra repairs, then wait for re-inspection, then prepare tons of extra paperwork for them to move in, renew a lease, and to send them notices. We can't increase rent unless HUD approves, and we can't charge for utilities like we do for every other resident. We also cannot require the applicant to meet the minimum income requirements the same way we do for everyone else.

Compared to two years ago, we didn't accept section 8.