Section 8 in our HOA

A rental is a rental.

The Association must treat all rentals equally. To do otherwise could cause major issues (like a discrimination lawsuit).

David,

You imply that there are other rental units. Is this a condo?

If there are other rentals in addition to the Section 8 unit, why the sudden concern about property values? What will the Section 8 unit and its tenants do to devalue your property that the other rental units and their tenants have not already done?

I don't see where it's any of the HOA's business to know this information. A HOA stands for Home OWNER's Association. That means that homeowners share in responsibilities of managing and funding common property to keep the area nice to ATTRACT potential buyers. A HOA does NOT keep home values up. They keep the appearances up to keep buyers interested in purchasing. Property values are based on what similar houses in a few mile radius have sold with similar rooms and features. (3 bedroom 2 Bath homes as example).

What really effects your home values is foreclosure sales. You and your HOA members may have houses selling at $500K but if one of those sell at $300K in a short sale/foreclosure it's going to be used as a "Comp" in your area. Nothing much you can do about it but wait about 6 months after a foreclosure sells and hope more homes sell at the $500K price range in that time frame.

Rental effect on a HOA is with the ability to offer certain loan programs. FHA, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac may not like offering loans to those HOA's with high amount of rentals. They may offer higher interest rates to those who buy into a high rental HOA or nothing at all. That just means that potential buyers have to have stronger credit and loan options. It's NOT a lower home value. It's less potential buyers who qualify for loans situation.

Hope that clears things up a bit. Section 8 doesn't mean much except to the person who is renting the place out. The HOA just needs to recognize that the property is rental and hold the owner's feet to the ground on any violation. The owner is responsible for paying ALL dues NOT the renter.

1) Really? Look at this economy, and tell me... do you really think a section 8 rental is what is lowering your property value?
2) Can you quantify the value of your property prior to this rental, and now, after? How much has it been lowered?
3) Do you honestly believe that your property value would rise if you eliminate the "nice people" in the section 8 home, and replaced them with, for example, a non-section 8 pedophile? Or, perhaps a nice alcoholic couple who fight and scream at all hours of the night? would that make your property value rise, since it's no longer given out to n economically disadvantage person?

Everyone thanks for your reply in helping me understand this.

The problem is that the economy took a dive and investors came in and purchased homes in neighborhoods in suburban areas with income levels in the range of $45,000-$65,000. Basically middle to upper middle class families who work very hard so they can live in a nice area and raise their families. The investors don't live in these neighborhoods and could not care less whether the people they rent to are good law abiding citizens or not. Whether you like it or not, whether it infuriates you or not, the residents in these neighborhoods purchased their homes there to be around others in the same income bracket as to help ensure a certain quality of life. When you bring in renters on section 8, you're bringing in people that wouldn't be able to afford to live in these areas without government assistance and a great deal of them have never lived any other way. Since the economy went south and homes were purchased by investors in my neighborhood, in the past 8-10 years I've lived next door to felons who brought their drug business with them along with law enforcement who was always looking for them, their kids hung out skulking around smoking pot on the corners, breaking into homes and cars, stealing bicycles which they piled in a heap behind their rear fence, the yard was let go, I constantly have garbage in my yard and my son can no longer ride his bike around the neighborhood and play with his friends. This was the first set of renters. No one that has lived there have been law abiding, hard working people. No matter what they say on forums such as this one, the people who work hard to maintain a certain quality of life don't want to have to worry about living next to or near this caliber of person and that's exactly why they bought a home where they did. I wish I had known about a rental policy in the Bylaws of my HOA before I purchased my home. Despite what you may think, people do bring their environment with them and once they're in, they can be hard to get out. Unless you're dealing with some very exceptional people who want to change and are willing to maintain the same quality of life standards as the rest of the neighborhood, this is what you end up with. I work very hard to be able to afford to live in the area I live in, if I wanted to live in a low income, high crime area, I would have purchased my home in one.

And break up long paragraphs into shorter ones, please. Very difficult to read long ones.