Apartments that accept Section 8 in Boston, MA

BHA publishes a payment standard for each ZIP code and bedroom size. Its plan sets each between 90% and 110% of HUD’s metro-wide Fair Market Rent and allows up to 110% of HUD’s ZIP figure as an exception (plan, section 18.2.4). Boston is not one of the metros where HUD requires ZIP-based standards; BHA chose them.

The table is BHA’s adopted schedule, “effective 01/01/2026” (BHA). BHA adds that payment standards “are not suggested contract rents”: the rent itself must pass BHA’s rent-reasonableness check.

HUD’s newer figures are not BHA’s standards yet. HUD’s FY2027 Small Area FMRs took effect October 1, 2026; the two-bedroom figure for 02127 rose to $4,160 and for 02124 to $2,650 (HUD). BHA’s posted chart is still the January 2026 one. When BHA lowers a standard, a family keeps its current one for the rest of its contract (plan).

Holding a state voucher from Metro Housing|Boston? Its standards come from the state’s “Find My Payment Standard” tool, not this chart.

If you pay any utilities yourself, BHA counts an allowance for them and adds it to the rent before comparing it with the payment standard. BHA’s chart, effective August 1, 2026, has separate columns for single-family homes, two- and three-family houses, row houses and garden apartments, and elevator buildings (BHA). Two-bedroom figures for a two- or three-family house, the triple-decker type, are below.

Rent plus utilities comes to $80 over the standard, so the household pays $830 a month in all, 33.2% of income, under BHA’s 40% limit for a new lease. The same unit in Jamaica Plain (02130, standard $3,250) would be under the standard, and the share would be $750.

Because the standard follows the ZIP code, check the table before you visit. BHA lists apartments through a partner site, AffordableHousing.com; BHA says those units “are not pre-screened by the BHA and do not carry our endorsement” (BHA). Neighborhood pages below have current VoucherMatch listings.

No. Massachusetts law bars refusing a renter who is “a tenant receiving federal, state, or local housing subsidies, including rental assistance or rental supplements,” or “because of any requirement of such public assistance, rental assistance, or housing subsidy program” (M.G.L. c.151B §4(10)). Boston’s Fair Housing Commission lists rental assistance as protected and gives as an example a landlord who says “they don’t accept rental assistance” (City of Boston). Complaints go to the commission, 617-635-2500, or to the state’s Commission Against Discrimination.

The law is not always followed. A City Council hearing order filed in July 2026 cites a study that “found evidence of voucher-based discrimination in 86% of tests” in the Boston area (hearing order). To qualify for a new voucher, income generally has to be at or below HUD’s very low income limit: $60,000 for one person and $85,700 for four in Boston (FY2026; HUD).

BHA requires direct deposit for subsidy payments (BHA). After the tenant hands in the Request for Tenancy Approval, BHA contacts the owner within seven business days to inspect, against HUD’s standards and the state sanitary code; afterwards it inspects “every other year” (BHA, inspections). A unit fails BHA’s affordability test if rent plus utilities exceeds the standard by more than 10% of the tenant’s monthly adjusted income (BHA). Under BHA’s ECHO+ program, owners renting to families moving to its Expanded Choice Communities get a $1,000 signing bonus and $500 at renewal (BHA.aspx)). List a rental on VoucherMatch to reach Boston voucher holders.