Can a neighborhood prohibit Section 8 Housing

Hi,
I am in North Carolina and serve as a volunteer on the Homeowners Board for a community where i own a condo (and lease it). I am also concerned about the neighborhood i currently reside in because of what has happened in the condo community that I use to live in.

Is there any leagl way to keep Section 8 residents out of your neighborhood? Does anyone know what one can do to keep this from even happening and what to do if Section 8 has crept in by a homeowner who has leased their property to Sedtion 8 tenants?

Thanks for your input.

Kathy

Hi Glen,
Thanks for the feedback.

Our former president asked the same question, but I'm not sure we got a definite answer. On one hand, I don't think Section 8 tenants are a protected class (unlike race, gender or religion), but on the other hand, if you ban section 8 and it happens that most of the people affected are of a certain race, gender or perhaps family makeup (e.g. single parent household), you could have a discrimination lawsuit on your hands.

We've had section 8 in our community and I've learned that just because someone's on section 8 does't mean he/she/they will automatically be bad tenants. Remember there are a lot of people making a lot more money who don't know how to act - and some of THEM are homeowners! The key is to hammer the owner - bad tenants start when owners don't do due dilligence and educate their tenants about community rules or even conduct background checks to see what type of people are moving in. Enforce your community rules and let the landlords know violations will be treated as if THEY personally lived in the unit.

And if you know for certain the people behaving badly are section 8, you may be able to complain to the agency that administers the program (the program does have requirements for the tenants if they want to continue receiving assistance). Perhaps a nastgram to the owner, with copies sent to the tenant and the agency might do the trick.