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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If it's really Hillcrest, you can't rent it for that price to Section 8 unless all utilities are included: https://www.dchousing.org/vue/customer/rent.aspx says it's $1423 for a 1br with utilities and $1226 without. So if you want the guarantee of the Section 8 income, you'll have to cut the price.[/quote]

I had looked at that site and couldn't figure out what those numbers meant. Are those fixed rates, or maximums? For example, I have a basement unit on Cap Hill that rents for $1700. If I put it on the market, I might get a little more, but not much more. But the site lists $2467 for a one bedroom on Cap Hill without utilities, which is significantly above market for a basement unit. Seems like when a tenant moves out, we'd do very well by switching to Section 8. Am I missing anything? If so, why aren't more people renting through Section 8?[/quote]

Those are the approved rents. Contrary to a PP, you can't make the rent on the lease that amount and then charge the tenant extra through a side agreement, or charge more than the payment standard knowing that DCHA's portion would be below the standard (because the tenant could recertify and have their portion go down and DCHA's go up).

DCHA allows higher-rent neighborhoods to charge more. So a 1-br in Capitol Hill could be $2467. But as to why more people aren't renting to people with vouchers
* they don't understand the program and the rents they can get
* it's more paperwork and an extra inspection
* they are concerned that people with vouchers will cause more trouble than a market-rate renter (some will, some won't)
* people with vouchers aren't applying for their units

To this last one, not everyone wants to live in Capitol Hill. Not everyone wants a basement unit (many people with vouchers have disabilities and might not be able to do steps, for example). The Section 8 waitlist closed in 2013 so most people, especially those with 1-bedroom vouchers, have been on the program a long time and might be settled in their units or their neighborhoods. There just aren't that many people with Section 8 or Local Rent Subsidy vouchers: about 17,000 households, of which only a fraction are 1-bedroom vouchers. It's a pretty small share of the population and rental market. [/quote]

*Voucher holders may also have a hard time coming up with one month's security deposit for units in higher-priced neighborhoods.[/quote]

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