How Section 8 Determines Affordable Rent Prices

How Section 8 Determines Affordable Rent Prices

Section 8 housing can be a crucial resource for families with limited income. Right now, it helps over nine million Americans who are facing this situation.

If you are someone who has stakes in this type of property, you may be wondering what affordable rent is for this type of housing. This guide breaks down some of the biggest factors.

Fair Market Rent

The first thing you need to consider is what the fair market rent price is in Virginia. The reason why this is so important is that rent prices are typically a percentage of what the average rent is in a certain area.

Let's say that someone is looking for an affordable two-bedroom apartment in the Charlottesville, VA area. As of the end of last year, the median rent price for that was $1,460 per month.

What you need to do is conduct some market research and determine what the fair market rent price is in your particular city. From there, you can get an idea of what kind of rent you can charge for Section 8 housing in that area.

Income Limits

Another thing you have to consider is what type of income those applying for Section 8 housing have. Because this type of housing is supposed to be reserved for people who are financially struggling, you have to fall below a certain threshold for this.

How low is this threshold? Part of this answer depends on how many people you want to have live in this house.

Section 8 housing has income brackets ranging from one person to eight or more people in one household. The income limit increases as you have more people trying to live under one roof.

However, the number of people living under one roof is not the only thing that comes into play here. There are also certain percentage categories for income limits.

These are separated by 80% of the federal poverty line, 50% of the federal poverty line, and extremely low income. In Charlottesville, this means that the maximum income limit can have as much as a $39,000 difference between these categories for a single person.

An example is if one person tries to qualify for extremely low-income housing. That person can't make much more than $23,000 to qualify for this.

However, if another person makes about 80% of the federal poverty line, they can make a little over $62,000 per year and still qualify. You are going to have to do the appropriate research here and assess your situation carefully.

Learn More About Section 8 Housing

These are the main things you need to know about Section 8 housing. It is designed to help low-income families and there are maximum income limits for people to qualify for it.

Do you need help figuring all of this out? PMI Commonwealth is here to help.

We are a professional property management and real estate brokerage company that uses state-of-the-art technology to give you the most accurate information possible about your real estate investment.

If you want to know more information, message us here today.

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