Public (Subsidized) Housing

For Section 8 Tenants, the landlord may only increase your rent after the 1st year of your tenancy.
The landlord must comply with ALL of the following to increase your rent:

• Provide you proper written notice (via mail, personally, or posted on your door) of 30 days, or 90 days if the rent is increased over 10% and no rent increase limits apply, before the rent increase goes into effect; AND
• The landlord must provide the local Public Housing Authority (“PHA”) at least 60 days’ notice before the date the landlord wants the rent increase to go into effect; AND
• The PHA approves the rent increase
  • The PHA will review the landlords contract rent increase request to confirm it is reasonable compared to market rates.
  • If the PHA rejects the rent increase, the landlord CANNOT increase the tenants rent. Tenants should not pay the increased rent amount until it has been approved by the PHA.
  • The PHA will send a letter to the landlord and Section 8 tenant informing each what the new contract rent, and tenant portion will be.

• Typically, Section 8 tenants are only allowed to move after the first year of their tenancy
• Before you can move, Section 8 Tenants must have a Request for Tenancy Approval (RAFTA) packet to apply for new housing.
• Generally, the PHA will require the tenant to provide written notice of at least 30 days to the landlord of their intent to terminate their tenancy before they will issue a RAFTA packet
  • If the tenant provides their landlord 30 days’ notice, you cannot cancel it to stay in your current home unless your landlord agrees. Tenants mut be sure they intended to move before providing the notice.
  • Section 8 tenants should be mindful that finding housing takes longer because of the additional paperwork and inspections required by the PHA to approve a Section 8 tenancy. You may want to provide more than 30 days’ notice to your landlord to give you, and the PHA, more time to establishing a new Section 8 tenancy.
• If the PHA is refusing to issue you a RAFTA packet, please give us a call for assistance.

• Section 8 voucher are administered by the local PHA. For example, the San Diego Housing Commission (“SDHC”) administers all the Section 8 Voucher in the City of San Diego.  If your voucher is administered by the SDHC, you may only use your voucher in the City of San Diego.
• If you wanted to use your voucher in another area, you would have to port your voucher from the SDHC to the local PHA in the area you desire to live in.
• Porting can be a long process taking several months to complete, if not longer. Additionally, some PHAs require you to have a reason to port such as a new job or attending school in the area you want to move to.
• If your PHA is not allowing you to port your voucher, please give us a call for assistance.

• Moving in someone new
  • All persons who live in your Section 8 unit MUST be screened and approved by your PHA.
    • Failure to get approval from the PHA before the moving in, WILL likely result in the termination of your Section 8 voucher
  • To begin the screening process, contact your Case Worker assigned to you by your local PHA.
  • Important Note: Adding a household member, if approved, may increase your tenant portion as the new household members income will be added to the total household income use to calculate your tenant portion.
• Someone Moving out
  • You MUST inform the PHA within 14 days when someone moves out of your Section 8 household. We recommend you make the communication in writing, in addition to calling your worker, to have proof you timely communicated the change in household size.  Do not wait to report this change, do it ASAP.
  • Failure to timely notify the PHA of the move out, WILL likely result in the termination of your Section 8 voucher
  • Important Note: The decrease in the number of people living in your home may result in a decrease in your Section 8 voucher size.  If your Section 8 Voucher size is decreased because of someone moving out, your tenant portion will likely be increased.  Please contact us if you have this issue.

• Increases in income
  • Increases in income, such as wages or public benefits, must be reported in as little as 10 days. It varies from PHA to PHA.  We recommend you report an increase in income ASAP and in writing to your case worker.
  • Changes increases in income will likely result in an increase of your tenant portion. The PHA must provide you with a written notice before your portion increase goes into effect.
  • Failure to timely notify the increase in income WILL likely result in the termination of your Section 8 voucher AND debt owed for the excess payments of rent made on your behalf.
• Decreases in income
  • Decreases in income are generally not required BUT if reported may result in the decrease of your tenant portion.
  • WE recommend you report any decrease in income ASAP to see if the PHA will decrease your rental obligation. Otherwise, you may be paying more than you should.

• The PHA may send you a variety of notices throughout your tenancy. It is important to read all notices and keep them safe and organized for your records.
• Notices to pay extra attention to:
  • Annual Notice to recertify your income
    • Income recertification are done annually to confirm you are still eligible for your section 8 voucher based on income. Failure to timely recertify may likely result in the termination of your voucher.
  • Notice of Change to Tenant Portion
    • These letters generally will decrease or increase what your rental obligation is to your landlord. It is important to stay up to date on what your rental obligation is.
  • Notice of Intended action (termination of your Section 8)
    • If you received this notice, it means the PHA is trying to terminate you from the Section 8 program.
    • The PHA must have an allowable reason to terminate and must inform you what the reason is in the notice.
    • You have the right to request an administrative hearing to fight the termination of your voucher. Typically, you will have 14 days from the date of the notice to timely request an administrative hearing in writing.  Failure to timely request an administrative hearing in writing will result in the termination of your voucher without an ability to tell your side of the story. 

• Section 8 tenants are forbidden to pay more rent than has been approved by the PHA. Paying more than what the PHA approves is a violation of the Section 8 program and may result in the termination of your voucher.
• We recommend you report any attempts from your landlord to demand more rent than approved immediately to your Section 8 caseworker.