Most housing assistance available through the Section 8 program is in the form of vouchers. Officially titled Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV), these monthly rent supplements are available to millions of qualified households across the United States to the elderly or who earn very low income in comparison with the median of their community. Jeff Bischoff Households who receive HCV’s may find an apartment they like, sign a lease for whatever the market rate is for that unit, and then pay a portion of the rent on their own. The remainder of the rent, up to a certain amount based on local market conditions, is paid to the landlord via the voucher supplement. HCVs are a great way to disperse renters throughout various parts of the community because they aren’t location based. They can be used to supplement rent payments in any unit that will accept the compliance mandates of the program. Therein lies the main challenge of the HCV program: getting more landlords to choose to rent to households who intend to use a voucher as part of their monthly rent payment. Work to solve this challenge is ongoing. Public housing agencies across the country are using strategies for their local landlords with varying degrees of success. Jeff Bischoff, Yardi’s Senior Director of PHA sales recently spoke about the topic. Read on to hear his thoughts on the challenges of HCVs, and some of the ways his clients are solving them. Tell us what you are hearing from clients about why landlords don’t choose to participate in the HCV program. Bischoff: Landlords seems to be concerned with potential delays in contracting and rent collection. Like every other industry, owners and property managers operate on tight budgets and timeframes. Worrying about losing a month or...