What Can Make You Lose Your Section 8 Voucher?

You can lose a Section 8 voucher in two ways. A few events require the housing authority to terminate you, such as being evicted for a serious lease violation. A longer list of violations lets the housing authority decide, case by case, whether to terminate. Unreported income, unapproved people living with you, missed recertifications and leaving the unit empty too long are the ones that catch most families.

In nearly every case you have the right to a written notice and an informal hearing before the payments stop. A family that ignores the letter loses by default. A family that requests the hearing and brings documents has a real chance to keep the voucher.

This is general information, not legal advice. If you have received a termination notice, contact your local legal aid office right away, because the deadline to request a hearing is short.

Terminations the Housing Authority Must Carry Out

Under 24 CFR 982.552(b) and 24 CFR 982.553(b), the housing authority has no choice in these situations:

• You are evicted from your voucher unit for a serious violation of the lease. Note the wording. The rule is triggered by an eviction, not by a landlord's notice or a court filing that you later settle.
• Any family member refuses to sign the required consent forms that let the housing authority verify income and other information.
• Citizenship or eligible immigration status paperwork is not submitted where the rules in 24 CFR part 5 require it.
• A family member fails the eligibility rules for college students in 24 CFR 5.612.
• Any household member has ever been convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine on the premises of federally assisted housing. The regulation says the housing authority "must immediately terminate."
• The asset limits apply and your housing authority enforces them. Under 24 CFR 5.618, families with net assets above a cap that started at $100,000 and adjusts each year, or who own a home they could live in, are not eligible. For families already on the program, the same rule lets a housing authority adopt a written policy not to enforce the limit or to make exceptions, and allows up to six months' delay before termination.

Terminations the Housing Authority May Choose

The discretionary grounds are in 982.552(c)(1). The housing authority "may at any time" terminate for any of them:

• Violating any family obligation (the list is in the next section)
• A family member was evicted from federally assisted housing in the last five years
• A housing authority has ever terminated assistance for any family member
• Fraud, bribery or another corrupt or criminal act connected to a federal housing program
• The family owes rent or other money to any housing authority
• The family has not repaid a housing authority for amounts it paid an owner for rent or damages
• Breaking a repayment agreement
• Abusive or violent behavior, or threats, toward housing authority staff
• Criminal activity or alcohol abuse as described in 982.553

The Family Obligations, in Plain English

The family obligations in 24 CFR 982.551 are the rules you agreed to when you signed the voucher. Breaking any of them is ground number one above.

Information

Give the housing authority any information it asks for, including for annual and interim reexaminations. Everything you supply "must be true and complete."

Disclose Social Security numbers and sign consent forms.

The unit

Let the housing authority inspect "at reasonable times and after reasonable notice."

Fix any inspection failure your family caused.

Do not commit "any serious or repeated violation of the lease."

Tell the housing authority and the owner before you move out or end the lease.

Give the housing authority a copy of any eviction notice promptly.

Who lives there

Live in the unit. It must be your only residence.

Get approval before adding anyone other than a newborn, adopted child or child placed by a court. Nobody else may live there. See how long a guest can stay and moving a partner in.

Report promptly when a family member moves out.

Do not sublet, and do not transfer the lease.

Do not own or have any interest in the unit.

Absence

Tell the housing authority promptly if the family will be away. Under 24 CFR 982.312, if no family member lives in the unit for more than 180 consecutive days "in any circumstance, or for any reason," payments end. Your housing authority may set a shorter limit in its administrative plan.

Conduct

No fraud, bribery or corrupt acts connected to the program.

No drug-related criminal activity, violent criminal activity, or other crime that threatens the health, safety or peaceful enjoyment of neighbors.

No alcohol abuse that threatens neighbors in the same way.

No second housing subsidy at the same time.

The Five That Actually Cost People Their Vouchers

1. Unreported income. A new job, a partner's paycheck, child support that started. If the housing authority finds income you did not report, it recalculates your rent back to the month after the change (24 CFR 982.516(c)(4)) and bills you. Large or deliberate cases are treated as fraud. If you live in New York City, see how to report an income change.

2. Unauthorized occupants. Someone living with you who is not on the household composition.

3. Missed recertification or ignored mail. Failing to supply information is a violation by itself. Keep your mailing address current with the housing authority and open everything it sends.

4. Eviction or serious lease violations. Not paying your share of the rent is a lease violation. An eviction for it triggers mandatory termination.

5. Abandoning the unit. Long hospital stays, jail time or extended travel without telling the housing authority.

The Quiet Way: Your Subsidy Drops to Zero

You can also leave the program without breaking any rule. If your income rises until the housing authority's payment is $0, you keep the voucher for a while. Under 24 CFR 982.455, the payment contract "terminates automatically 180 calendar days after the last housing assistance payment to the owner." If your income falls again within those 180 days, report it and the payments can restart.

What Does Not Cost You Your Voucher

• Being a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking. The family obligations say such incidents "will not be construed as a serious or repeated lease violation by the victim," and criminal activity directly related to the abuse cannot be the reason to end the victim's assistance.
• A failed inspection caused by the landlord. Owner-caused failures stop the owner's payments, not your eligibility. You may be given a voucher to move.
• A small raise reported on time. Your rent adjusts. Reporting income does not end assistance.
• A guest who stays within your housing authority's limit.
• The head of household dying or moving out, when another approved adult in the household can continue the assistance. See can you transfer a Section 8 voucher to another person.

Your Rights Before Termination

24 CFR 982.555 gives participants these protections when the housing authority decides to terminate for something the family did or failed to do:

• Written notice with a brief statement of reasons and the deadline to request a hearing.
• An informal hearing before payments stop. The housing authority must offer it before it ends payments under your current contract.
• Access to the evidence. You may examine and copy the housing authority's documents that are directly relevant. If the agency will not show you a document, it cannot rely on it at the hearing.
• A representative. You may bring a lawyer or other representative at your own expense. Many legal aid offices handle these hearings for free.
• A neutral hearing officer, who cannot be the person who made the decision or that person's subordinate.
• A written decision based on "a preponderance of the evidence presented at the hearing."

The housing authority is also allowed to consider the whole picture: "the seriousness of the case, the extent of participation or culpability of individual family members, mitigating circumstances related to the disability of a family member, and the effects of denial or termination of assistance on other family members who were not involved" (982.552(c)(2)). It can let the rest of the family stay if the person responsible moves out. It can offer a repayment agreement. Ask for these outcomes directly.

In New York City, our guide to appealing a Section 8 termination walks through the process step by step.

What Landlords Should Know

• A tenant's termination ends your housing assistance payments. If a tenant is at risk over something fixable, such as an unreported household member, steering them to fix it protects your rent.
• An eviction for a serious lease violation forces the housing authority to terminate. A payment plan or a move-out agreement may get you the same result without ending the family's subsidy.
• If the tenant is absent longer than the housing authority allows, payments stop and you must return any payment received for the period after termination.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get Section 8 back after being terminated?

You can reapply when a waiting list opens, but a past termination is a ground a housing authority may use to deny you. Policies on how far back they look vary.

How long do I have to request a hearing?

The deadline is set by your housing authority and must be stated in the notice. It can be short, so send your request in writing as soon as the letter arrives and keep proof of the date.

Can I lose my voucher for being late on rent?

Late rent alone is not a termination ground. Repeated nonpayment is a serious lease violation, and if the landlord evicts you for it the housing authority must terminate.

Will an arrest end my voucher?

An arrest alone is not a finding that you did anything. The housing authority needs a preponderance of evidence that a household member engaged in the prohibited activity, and if it relies on a criminal record it must give you a copy and a chance to dispute it.

Can one family member's actions cost everyone the voucher?

They can, but the housing authority is allowed to keep assisting the rest of the family on the condition that the person responsible no longer lives in the unit.

Does my voucher end if my income gets too high?

Not right away. When the housing authority's payment reaches zero, you have 180 days before the contract ends automatically.

Sources

• 24 CFR 982.551, Obligations of participant
• 24 CFR 982.552, PHA denial or termination of assistance for family
• 24 CFR 982.553, Denial and termination for criminals and alcohol abusers
• 24 CFR 982.555, Informal hearing for participant
• 24 CFR 982.312, Absence from unit
• 24 CFR 982.455, Automatic termination of HAP contract
• 24 CFR 5.618, Restriction on assistance to families based on assets

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