The housing market is saturated with homes that are vacant. Many homeowners who want desperately to get out from under their cumbersome mortgages have found it difficult to sell their homes in these troubled times. Some of these worried homeowners have decided to try another route. Instead of selling their home they have decided to rent out their homes and wait for the market to rebound.
Homeowners are renting out their homes to section 8 housing qualified individuals in an effort to secure long term occupancy and guarantee payment. Renting out their property will allow many of these struggling homeowners the gift of time, allowing the market to stabilize further. The hope is that in another 18 months or so they will be able to sell their home at or close to what is owed on the property.
Section 8 was created in 1974 in an effort to assist individuals who were in dire need of housing. Section 8 was named after its location in the U.S. Housing and Community Development Act. The $18.1 billion dollar program was designed to offer struggling individuals an opportunity to receive housing assistance that did not require them to live in a centralized housing project. Currently the program assists an estimated 2 million people.
The decision to rent to sections qualifiers has not gone over well for some permanent residents in these neighborhoods. Many residents believe that the decision is selfish on the part of the homeowner. Opponents believe that this opens the neighborhood up to crime and other undesirable possibilities. Some neighbors that reside next to these types of rentals say that they have witnessed fights, public intoxication, and late night traffic. They are afraid that the inclusion of low rentals in their neighborhood will eventually lower their chances of selling their home at a profit in the future.
The decision to rent instead of sell is not as easy as one would think. Renting your property comes with several concerns that have to be taken into consideration. Becoming a landlord has legal implications, tax declarations, and other financial obligations. Renting to section8 qualifiers requires that the home be inspected and properly registered as a rental property. Other things that have to be considered are increased insurance premiums and the responsibility of handling all repairs on the property while it is occupied.
What do you think? Is it selfish for a homeowner to rent a home in a “nicer neighborhood” to section 8 qualified individuals?
I am a Managing Partner, Internet Marketer and Blogger at New Homes Section. Follow me on 
Its not about being selfish the individual has to do what is right for his family and himself.
Certainly a new way of intergrating different folks.
It must be the homeowners own interest to get a perfect tenant so he don’t any problem with repairs, rental money, and that the house prices don’t go down in the area.
I don’t think that it’s necessarily selfish of a homeowner to rent out to section 8 qualified people. What I would considered selfish of a homeowner is if they just rent out to anybody that offers cash. Just because you rent your property to a tenant that isn’t section 8,it doesn’t mean you’re in the clear from problems.