Applicant is Section 8 but has low monthly income...

[Ryan Ahlgrim]

I have an applicant for a rental, single mother with 2 kids. She qualifies for Section 8 but her monthly income is far less than 3x the monthly rent. I know Section 8 should guarantee rent gets paid on time each month, but I worry about her having the money to actually care for the property and yard while she's there. No past evictions and clean criminal background. Has anyone had a similar situation? How'd you handle it?

[Account Closed]

You can only require them to make 3X their portion of the rent.

For instance, I now have a Section 8 voucher. My portion of my rent in the arctic zone of CA is $197/month. HUD pays the difference of the market rate for my apartment.

But, if your criteria is 3X the rent for income, in my case you could only require my income to be 3X my portion of the rent of $197 - not 3X the total rent, including the portion HUD pays.

There is a BP poster who used to work for a housing authority handling Section 8, so you could ask her questions.  Her name is Merlie and she's in FL.  I can never get the tag thing to work, but just search "Section 8" and maybe "Merlie" and you'll find her.