Anyone with experience with Housing Choice (Section 8) in Jacksonville?

Question

Greetings,

I am hoping to connect with someone who is familiar with the Housing Choice (Section 8) landscape in Jacksonville and has experience working with the housing authority in Jacksonville. Specifically wondering if they award the FMR listed on the HUD site, if there is an abundant applicant pool, and if the housing authority is responsive.

Elenis Camargo · Answer

Hi Dane,

We work with Section 8 in Jacksonville quite a bit with our property management business. We have 50+ houses that we manage with tenants with section 8 HUD vouchers. The program has had an overhaul recently and they are much more responsive now. You can only get the FMR listed on the HUD site if the tenant moving in has a voucher that meets that amount. HUD does not let the tenant pay the difference and as a landlord you cannot accept it. So even if the tenant offers do not accept it because you can't list that amount on the lease since HUD will want to see the lease. And if you get caught you can get kicked off of the program. The voucher amount is based on factors such as the applicant's income and dependents so not everyone has the same voucher amount. Also, they are usually approved for a max number of bedrooms and if they want a home with more bedrooms you'll need confirmation from their caseworker.

Are you self managing your home and I assume you are interested in a tenant with a HUD voucher?

Any other questions let me know!Elenis

Denise Supplee · Answer

HUD’s FMR is a benchmark, not an automatic award. Most housing authorities set their own payment standards, often within a range of FMR, and the final approved rent is based on rent reasonableness and inspection outcomes. So when people ask whether a housing authority  awards FMR, what they usually mean is: what payment standards are they actually using by bedroom size or zip code, and are they using Small Area FMR versus a metro wide standard.

The most efficient way to get a concrete answer is to ask the housing authority for their current payment standards by bedroom size and whether those standards vary by zip code. Some agencies publish this on their landlord or HCV pages; others will provide it directly by email. That will tell you how closely their approved rents track HUD’s posted FMRs in practice.

Allan Castro · Answer

Hi @Elenis Camargo! I hope you are doing great. Is this market still hot for section 8? How is your experience nowadays? Thank you!

Elenis Camargo · Answer

Hi @Allan Castro! I am about to do a meetup about this so I'll try to record and share it with you. It's changed a lot this past year.

Anyone with experience with Housing Choice (Section 8) in Jacksonville?

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