Fair Housing Month Discussion: Tenants and Landlords and Section 8

Please join the Somerville Fair Housing Commission and the Department of Racial and Social Justice for a meeting about how Section 8 vouchers work for landlords and tenants.

Fair Housing Month Discussion: Tenants and Landlords and Section 8

Thursday night, April 17 7-8:30 PM at the Auditorium in the Central Library, 79 Highland Ave, Somerville , MA, 02143. In person and on Zoom. Register here.

You’re good for the rent—you can vouch for it!

Housing continues to be the hot-button issue in Somerville.

Join us during Fair Housing Month as the Somerville Public Library hosts a hybrid (virtual + in-person) conversation with the Somerville Fair Housing Commission, in partnership with the Department of Racial and Social Justice, about your rights as tenants and landlords.

This meeting will focus on how to legally handle Section 8 vouchers. Tenants and landlords can learn from Attorney Todd Kaplan about typical, acceptable questions that arise during the tenant application process. Topics will include the use of credit scores and disclosing sources of income.

Why attend?

• Tenants: What are your rights regarding Section 8 vouchers and other non-wage income?
• Landlords: How do you avoid fines for discrimination regarding Section 8 and other non-wage income? What incentives are available for landlords of Section 8 tenants?

Refreshments will be provided.

Register below and please indicate whether you will be attending in-person or on Zoom.

Questions? For more information, please contact Shannon Lawler at [email protected] (phone: 617-625-6600 ext. 2569). At the Library you can reach out to Kerry O’Donnell: [email protected].

Language interpretation is available upon request with at least one week’s notice before the event. Please call 311 (617-666-3311) to make your request.

Persons with disabilities who need auxiliary aids or reasonable modifications should please contact Adrienne Pomeroy in advance 617-625-6600 x 2059 or [email protected].

What is Section 8?

It is a federally funded rental assistance program that pays private landlords the difference between what a low-income household can afford and the fair market rent.

Section 8 may refer to either the tenant-based Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program or the Project-based Rental Assistance (PBRA) program. In both programs, the tenant typically pays 30% of their monthly income for housing costs.

Good news 1: The rental payment for Section 8 housing is competitive with market rents.

Good news 2: The Office of Housing Stability in Somerville has been funded to support landlords and Realtors® who rent to Section 8 tenants. The program is called SomerVIP.

Landlords and Realtors® who rent a property to a section 8 tenant are eligible for a one-time per unit incentive.

Landlords can receive:

• $2000 for a 1 or 2 bedroom unit
• $2500 for a 3+ bedroom unit
• If no Realtor®, an additional $1,000 for a 1 or 2 bedroom unit or an additional $2,500 for a 3+ bedroom unit.
• A repair reimbursement for up to $500 to pass the Section 8 inspection.

Realtors® receive their regular rental fee, plus and extra $500 through this program.

Our story on why you should consider joining SomerVIP:

My husband and I own a house in Somerville, and we spoke at a meeting early in March, 2020. Our very first tenants were a family using a Section 8 voucher. They had been there quite a while. After some fairly simple paperwork at Somerville Housing Authority, we were all set to go. The next month, our check was in our mailbox on the first of the month, from Somerville Housing. Our tenant handed us a check the same day. It is the most regular payment from any tenants, in the history of our owning this two-family house.

When these tenants left, we rented at market rate, which was the same rate. It took only three months before one of the tenants bounced a check!

The thing about Section 8 is that it has built-in support for your tenants. The tenant pays 30 percent of their income for rent. If the tenant gets in financial trouble, the voucher program jumps in and adjusts their required payment to match their change in income. The housing authority covers what the tenant can’t, and the rent is paid.

With market rate, non-voucher tenants, anything can happen. And it does! We’ve had great tenants, but stuff happens!

• We had, as I said before, a tenant who didn’t know that it takes a few days for his paycheck to clear, so he bounced his rent check… four times.
• We had someone with a stipend for Boston University. Every September, his rent was late, while BU got their stipend program running again.
• We had a tenant who was a bartender. When she broke her foot, she was out of work for three weeks. It took her three months to catch up. Since then, we’ve had other tenants fall behind because of health crises. They have always caught up, but…