Also known as: Section 8 · Section Eight Program · Housing Choice Voucher Program · Section 8 housing · HUD Section 8
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A federal rental subsidy program administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development under which eligible low-income tenants pay a portion of the rent for privately owned housing units while the government covers the balance through housing assistance payments to landlords.
Stonehaven Properties, a landlord participating in the Section 8 program, pledged its portfolio of assisted leases as collateral for a loan. The secured party took physical possession of the original lease documents and tenant files. Because possession was obtained, the security interest became perfected even though no financing statement was filed.
Silverline Industries owns multiple Section 8 properties through a corporate subsidiary. Three directors elected two years earlier saw their terms expire at the next annual shareholders meeting. The corporation could not act on a proposed rent adjustment until new directors were seated.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Sydney Santos, a Section 8 tenant, challenged the constitutionality of the federal appropriations that funded her housing assistance. The court sustained the program as a valid exercise of congressional spending authority tied to the general welfare.
Solomon Silver organized a labor protest at a Section 8 apartment complex managed by Synergy Systems. The owner sought to bar the picketers from the private driveway. The court held that the First Amendment did not compel access because the property was not a public forum.
Samantha Stone refused to rent a unit to Selena Singh solely because Singh planned to use a Section 8 voucher. The court held that the refusal violated federal commerce power legislation prohibiting discrimination in housing transactions that affect interstate commerce.
Sofia Stern, a Section 8 landlord, challenged a state requirement that she accept federal inspection standards as a condition of continued participation. The court upheld the condition because Congress may attach requirements to federal spending programs that states voluntarily accept.
Yes. Several states and localities treat source-of-income discrimination as unlawful, and courts have applied those statutes to landlords who attempt to opt out of the Section 8 program after initially participating.
Tenants generally pay 30 percent of their adjusted income toward rent, with the housing authority covering the remainder up to the applicable payment standard.
No. Program rules require good cause for termination after the initial lease term, and eviction notices may be issued by the landlord but must comply with both the lease and federal requirements.
HUD may use comparability studies to cap rent adjustments even when the contract itself does not expressly prohibit them, provided the studies are authorized by statute.
…L. Rev. 574, 574 n. 1 (1972), citing Huxtable, Bank’s Building Plan Sets Off Debate on “Progress,” N. Y. Times, Jan. 17, 1971, section 8, p. 1, col. 2. [^maj-3]: See, e. g. , N. Y. C. Admin. Code § 205-1.0 (a) (1976). [^maj-4]: Gilbert, Introduction, Precedents for the Future, 36 Law & Contemp. Prob. 311, 312 (1971),…