OAKLAND — A new incentive program to attract more Section 8 landlords has added 75 in the past six months, but that number is far short of making up for the more than 1,000 who left the program from 2013 to 2016.
A total of 1,100 landlords converted their previously subsidized rentals to market rate in those years as the housing market heated up. The Section 8 program sets an annual rent limit that is below market rate in Oakland.
“I put a unit on the market in Fruitvale, and I get 50 calls within a day or two. It is desperate, and it is heartbreaking,” said Section 8 landlord Jason Russell at a news conference Wednesday.
In January, the Oakland Housing Authority launched a program to try to persuade landlords to rent to Section 8 participants. The program used money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — which manages the program — to offer new Section 8 landlords a $500 signing bonus and up to $2,500 in interest-free loans for repairs and upgrades. The incentive program also offered current Section 8 landlords up to two months’ rent while their units lay vacant if they continue to rent to Section 8 tenants.
Mayor Libby Schaaf and Oakland Housing Authority executive director Eric Johnson consider the incentive program — the first of its kind — to be a success so far. It has reeled in 75 new Section 8 landlords and led to double the number of Section 8 households since last year. In the first six months of 2018, 682 families signed new Section 8 leases in Oakland.
But the city is still feeling the damage of being about 1,000 Section 8 landlords short of what it had five years ago, Johnson said at a news conference Wednesday.
“We still have just below 5,000 owners (participating in Section 8 program). We had about 6,000 prior to the housing crisis, and we’re still trying to build that,” Johnson said.
In the first six months of the program, Oakland Housing Authority paid landlords $37,500 through the new owner incentives and paid previous Section 8 landlords $100,730 for vacancy loss to preserve units for future Section 8 tenants. The Housing Authority has also conducted 508 pre-qualifying inspections through the program, where a unit is inspected before a Section 8 tenant moves in to speed up the process.
Johnson and Schaaf hope to increase the number of Section 8 leases by 400 before the end of the year. They look to the incentive program to accomplish that.
“We want our owners back … and we’re going to make it as easy and accessible as possible to welcome the owners back to the program and get new owners to join,” Johnson said.
The incentives are also available to landlords who rent to people who get Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing, or VASH, vouchers. That program, also managed by HUD, provides housing vouchers to homeless veterans.
The incentive program won’t go away, Johnson said. Property owners interested in participating can contact Oakland Housing Authority Leased Housing Department Owner Services Division by calling 510-587-2118 or 510-587-7161.
Apart from the incentives offered in Oakland, there are other financial benefits to landlords who rent to Section 8 tenants. If a tenant is late paying rent, the portion of the rent subsidized by HUD — typically 70 percent of the market rate price — still comes regularly. Landlords can also save money on marketing, since the government essentially advertises the unit for them through the program.
Section 8 tenants are also screened by the local housing authority. That screening typically consists of a criminal background check and credit checks.
Russell said he’s had better experiences with Section 8 tenants than tenants who rent at market rate.
Landlord Johnny Burks, at the news conference, said the benefits to renting to Section 8 tenants are more than financial.
“Beyond just being greedy and taking as much as possible, take a second look at the cause, the gift and the improvement to the city, the tenants’ lives and the community,” Burks said.