Advice needed for Section 8 payment issue

[James Mc Ree]

Hello. Please advise on this situation if you have some expertise to share.

I had a long term Section 8 tenant who was looking to move and asked for an end of lease as of March 31. I approved it. No issue. She found Section 8 was slower than her plans (no surprise there!) and she requested a 1 month extension of her lease to the end of April. She requested this around March 25-26. I agreed with the same terms as the original lease. We informed Section 8 of the extension and they approved it.

April 1st comes and there is no payment. I inquire and they say our lease extension was too late in the month and payments were locked down. The case worker said I would be paid mid-April. No issue with that as I am familiar with their bureaucracy.

Mid-April comes and goes to today, April 21. No payment. I inquire of the case worker again. She informs her understanding is the tenant moved out which was news to me. I check with the tenant and confirm she actually moved out to her new home April 1, but didn't tell me anything about it.

I circled back to the case worker and request payment for April since we have a lease extension in place and neither the tenant nor the housing authority informed me of the end of the extension or move-out. The case worker informed me they already paid the new landlord and can't pay twice for the same tenant/month, so I would not be getting paid. I objected stating this is a housing authority mistake. I have an in-force lease of which they were aware. I wrote that I should be paid and the new landlord should be waiting until May for payment.  I requested supervisor escalation if the case worker disagrees. I haven't heard back yet on their response.

Do you have any advice on how to handle this situation? I can't sue Section 8 as they have sovereign immunity as part of the federal government. I plan to ask my former tenant to pay the rent of Section 8 does not, but she is unlikely to have the money and I probably still won't get paid if I sue her. I saw a reference to a HUD complaint process in lieu of lawsuits that I haven't explored yet. Is that worthwhile?