Duration of sec 8 tenants
Member since 2026 · 9 posts · 8 votes
Duration of sec 8 tenants
9 Replies
- Honolulu, HI · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes2w
Usually S8 tenants will stay for years. Generations, in fact, from personal experience. The more bedrooms, the more bodies, the more bodies lounging around the house all day, the more wear, tear, and damage.
If you have a nice house in a decent area, why not rent to a quality, responsible tenant? Good locations, well prepared rentals, and responsive landlords usually keep tenants for years too. And with much less wear and tear IF properly managed.
- Attorney · 10451 Mill Run Cir #755 Owings Mills, MD 21117 · Member since 2024 · 300 posts · 112 votes2w
Quote from @Bill Vaughan:
If you have a nice house in a decent area will sec 8 tenants and their kids stay a while thus minimizing turns. Do they stay longer in 3-4 bed houses or 1-2 bed apartments
@Bill Vaughan, from what I’ve seen working with landlords, I would not assume someone will stay longer just because they use a housing voucher.
I would look more at whether the property actually fits the household. A family that needs three or four bedrooms may have fewer reasons to move if the home is in a good location, works for their family, and the landlord takes care of the property. The same can be true for a tenant in a smaller unit.
I’ve also seen that long-term tenants usually come from good management. Clear lease terms, good screening, handling repairs quickly, and treating the property like a long-term rental can make a big difference in turnover.
So for me, I would choose the property based on the demand for that size home and the numbers, not based on the assumption that a certain type of tenant will stay longer. I would also make sure your screening and rental policies follow the fair housing and local source of income rules where the property is located.
- Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2020 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes2w
@Bill Vaughan , my experiences are limited, so take with a general grain of salt. But, I have found that single family rentals, or at least mine, had longer overall tenants than my duplex or the average tenant in the apartments I have worked on. But like Diana said, this is very much based on life situation.
My section 8 tenants often stayed for years (4-6) in all but one of SFRs. They were all 3 bed houses. My tenants generally had young kids, but not newborns, and past the point of having more kids. So, these families often stayed until quite a long time. The reasons they left varied.
My duplex was 2x two bed units. This was a very nice part of town, so was market rate. And while I maintained several year tenancy, the nature of the building and rents attracted young professionals, who typical left to get married, have kids, and had the means to buy a property as the next move.If you have not rented to section 8 tenants in the past, I recommend you talk with your local housing authority first. Specifically, my issue with section 8 had nothing to do with tenant quality, but rather Cincinnati MHA used to do annual re-inspections and towards the tail end of my section 8 journey went to bi-annual inspections. This means their inspectors basically do a full inspection every two years, and I had a repair list that was required, even when the tenant didn't turn over. So, while I avoided any downtime by renewing my tenants, and they wanted to stay, I also had what often amounted to 2,000-4,000 repair items come up every inspection. And while they were "landlord responsibility" they were also things that I clearly didn't do, i.e. cracked outlet cover, paint peeling/cracking, maybe a ceiling fan that stopped working. I would just look into how frequently these inspections occur, because for me, it became a combination of market rents growing faster than section 8 rents, and the bi-annual repairs kept getting more and more expensive.
- Real Estate Agent · Memphis · Member since 2026 · 538 posts · 311 votes2w
You can definitely get long-term voucher tenants, especially when the home fits the family well and they’re happy with the area and how the property is maintained. I wouldn’t count on the voucher itself being what keeps someone there, though. A good fit is still a good fit, voucher or not.
I could see a 3–4 bedroom house being stickier for the right family simply because finding another suitable larger home can be more of a process, but I wouldn’t underwrite it assuming they’ll stay longer than someone in a 1–2 bedroom. I’d treat longer tenancy as a benefit when it happens, not something guaranteed by the property size.
- 2wDrew SygitBusiness MemberProperty Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 9k+ votes
S8 tenants will stay longer because many are inherently lazy.
They will move though, as soon as you refuse requested maintenance for damages they caused:(
Once had a S8 tenant tell us they would renew if we repainted the house. When we pointed out the house had just been repainted 12 months earlier, right before they moved in, tenant stated they didn't care. They wanted a "fresh" house. We refused and they moved onto the next "sucker" landlord:( There was a LOT of cosmetic damage.
Logical Property Management4.9450 Reviews - Mechanicsburg, PA · Member since 2013 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes2w
@Bill Vaughan At one Sec8 home we had three tenants each stay 3 years. At another house we had Sec8 tenants (with 10 children all boys) stay 12 years. They had to wait until some of the kids graduated before their reduced family size was more conducise to finding rentals. An elderly single person Sec8 stayed in a one bedroom apt for 8 years. And as young single person stayed 4 years in a one bedroom apt.
For NON Sec8 we've had multiple tenants stay over 30 years, one current NON Sec8 tenant is beginning thier 27 year with us. One year I figured out we had average NON Sec8 tenants stay an average of 12 years, skewed by the long term tenancy. For they long term tenants I've offered to sell them thier rental ( after all they already paid for it) but some take me up on the offer. One recent 30+ year tenant, I had to finance it to them zero down to convince them to buy and get the deed. Surprisingly some tenants won't take me up on my offer to sell them the house they've rented for years.
- 2wAlan T.Pro MemberRental Property Investor · Member since 2019 · 16 posts · 3 votes
I'm sure there are numbers on this, but I have a mixed bag on this in my portfolio. Just anecdotally though, I've had less 1 year move outs with sec8 - thats probably the one thing ive noticed, but ive had long term tenants for both. I'm assuming that its just its more hassle/work for them to work through a change.
I think you're going to see such mixed data, that its a bit dangerous to bet that the generalized pattern should weigh a lot in how you think about it.
- 2wAmit PatelBusiness MemberProperty Manager · Bartlett, IL · Member since 2025 · 141 posts · 57 votes
In our experience Section 8 tenants can stay longer when the house is well maintained and in a decent area. The voucher process and moving costs make people less likely to leave if the property and neighborhood work for them. That does help reduce turns compared with some market rate tenants who move more freely.
Families in 3 and 4 bedroom houses often stay longer than smaller households in 1 and 2 bedroom units, especially when there are kids and the schools or space fit their needs. Smaller units can see more movement as household size changes or people look for something different.
A good regular tenant in the same kind of house can also stay for years. The difference is that market rate tenants usually have more flexibility to move if they find a better deal or their situation changes, while voucher tenants often have more friction around relocating. Both can be stable when the screening is strong and the property is kept in good shape.
It is not automatic either way. Screening still matters a lot, and so does how you treat the property and the tenants. A nice house in a decent area with a solid household, Section 8 or market rate, can be very stable.
Casanomy Property Management562 Reviews - Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 30k+ posts · 20k+ votes1d
If you have a nice house in a decent area, you shouldn't be renting it to Section 8 animals. They will jack it up to all hell by the time they move out.
HOWEVER
If you have a house in the Ghetto, Section 8 tenants are the preferred tenants. Because folks willing to live in the Ghetto are all low quality, and your low quality Section 8 tenants do stay longer and provide you with more consistent payments than the non Section 8 tenants will.
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