» What is the Section 8 Program?

The federal Section 8 program began in 1975 as a way to assist low-income families, elderly people, and people with disabilities to rent decent, safe, and affordable housing in the community. When this housing assistance program was first established, it was referred to as the “Section 8” program. In many communities, it is still referred to by this name. However, a federal housing law passed in 1998 gave the program a new name — the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP). Through this program, individuals and families receive a “voucher” — also referred to as a “subsidy” — that can be used in housing of their choice that meets the Section 8 program requirements. These subsidies are long-term and considered permanent housing. The Section 8 program is one of the most successful federal housing programs. It is also one of the best ways to help people with disabilities afford and maintain rental housing of their choice.

» How the Section 8 Program Works

The Section 8 program recognizes that very low-income people do not have enough money to afford decent, safe, and good quality housing. The program addresses this problem by providing a Section 8 subsidy to assist the household with monthly housing costs. This subsidy — which is based on the cost of moderately priced rental housing in the community — is provided by a Public Housing Agency (PHA) under a contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The Section 8 household pays a portion of monthly housing costs that is based on the income of the household. The household’s portion is usually — but not always — equal to 30 percent of its monthly adjusted income.

» Section 8 Program Components

There are currently three types of housing assistance provided by the Section 8 program:

1. Tenant-based rental assistance in which an eligible household (i.e., individual, group of individuals, or family) receives a Section 8 rental voucher to use in a housing unit of their choice in the community. Tenant-based rental assistance allows people with disabilities to choose their own housing unit from a community’s private rental housing market. If the household moves to another unit, the voucher can be used in the new unit. Tenant-based rental assistance is the most prevalent and well known type of Section 8 assistance. When people mention the Section 8 program or a “voucher,” they are usually referring to the tenant-based rental assistance component of the program.
   
   
2. Project-based rental assistance provides assistance through subsidies that are committed to a specific unit in a building through a contract between the owner and the Public Housing Authority (PHA). Households are referred to these units from the Section 8 waiting list, and may either accept the unit or choose to receive a Section 8 tenant based voucher instead. Households residing in Section 8 project-based units receive the same amount of rental assistance as households in the tenant based component. New rules in the project-based program give households that have resided in project-based units for at least one year the right to move and continue to receive Section 8 assistance by requesting a tenant-based voucher or comparable resource.
   
   
3. Homeownership assistance permits Section 8 assistance to be used to help purchase a home. Through this component, Section 8 households can use their housing assistance payments toward homeownership expenses.

» Relationships Between PHA, Household, and Owner in the Section 8 Program

Tenant-based rental assistance is the most common type of Section 8 assistance. There are three parties involved in this program:

1. The Public Housing Authority
2. The Section 8 household
3. The owner of private rental housing.

The relationship among these three parties is illustrated below in Figure 2-2:

» Program Eligibility

To be eligible for the Section 8 program a household must:

• Be very low-income. This means a household’s income must be at or below 50 percent of the area median income as determined by HUD. Each year, usually in April, HUD publishes the Section 8 income limits for every housing market area across the nation. These income limits are used to determine eligibility for the Section 8 program and can be located online at www.huduser.org/datasets/il.html
  
  
• Be a citizen or a noncitizen with “eligible immigration status”
  
  
• Be in good standing with federal housing programs.To be eligible for the Section 8 program, a household must not have:
  
  
  • Been evicted from public housing
  • Been terminated from another Section 8 program for cause
  • Committed fraud or criminal acts in connection with a federal housing program or
  • Failed to reimburse a PHA for unpaid rent or damages, or currently owe money to a PHA.

» Key Activities in the Section 8 Program

There are many steps in the Section 8 process. Each step involves many technical, and often cumbersome, activities. These steps and their related activities are illustrated in Figure1-1 below.

Content excerpted from SECTION 8 MADE SIMPLE: Using The Housing Choice Voucher Program To Assist People With Disabilities © Copyright 2002, 2003 by the Technical Assistance Collaborative, Inc. USED WITH PERMISSION

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