Re: Can we refuse Section 8 tenants? - Landlord Forum thread 345039

Re: Can we refuse Section 8 tenants? by Anonymous on May 18, 2016 @04:53

Hey, watch out there! Your stupidity just fell right out, and it landed in the middle of the internet for all the world to see!

Section 8 actually has a preference (a circumstance that can move a family up the waiting list faster) for several situations, one of which has always been being a low-income working household. Others include being disabled or a senior citizen. Guess what? If you are a senior or disabled, you are most likely unable to receive welfare benefits- you already make more money than welfare will ever give you. If you have SSI, you can't even get food stamps in many states, including here in California.

Another little tidbit for your edification- Welfare includes work requirements. Unless you meet some VERY strict exemptions, like having a serious medical condition that your doctor certifies will not allow you to work AT ALL, or like having given birth within the last 12 weeks, you have to be working. Yes, there is time given to get a job, but recipients better get one in the time provided (in my county, that's usually 3 weeks). If you don't meet the work requirement, you get "sanctioned"- AKA KICKED OFF.

Then, even if you are meeting the full time work requirements (plus jumping through all the other hoops they give you, such as trying to keep that new job you found after you tell your new boss you need a half weekday off every two weeks to meet with your worker, there is this really super nifty TIME LIMIT! It used to be 5 years total per adult in their lifetime, but California cut that down to 4 a few years back. California actually put a time limit on kids, too. Kids get 5 years. So, if your parents were on welfare when you were born, and you are 5 now, you better hope your parents didn't have some screwed up circumstance that kept them from getting a job, or that their job was good enough that they were able to get off of it, because you can't get any more welfare for you EVER.

I'm sure you think this is a great thing. I won't completely disagree- I think that people who can work should work. Shit, I was a stay at home mom. My husband had a job THAT GOOD. Then he got hurt, and did we go on welfare? Nope. I got a job and supported my family- husband and 4 kids- from there on out. I did have to use the welfare safety net for a little while, and I was thankful for it. But I didn't use up any time limits, that's for sure.

Now I have a section 8 voucher. I am 41 and completely disabled, but the SSA hasn't gotten through processing my SSD claim yet. So for the time being, I will have to wait a while before I can collect the $2500+ per month in disability benefits I am entitled to as a result of my contribution to that system. Right now, I am poor as dirt, and my kid and I still need a roof over our heads. We do not collect welfare. We NEED Section 8 desperately, and I've been waiting for years to get it.

Now that I finally have it, I can't find any landlords who will take it. I have good rental history, okay credit, no criminal record. But we've got asses like you who assume I'm a scum bag criminal on welfare, so I can't find a place. You know what? You're ignorant, and you suck. I hope I can refuse to rent a house to someone like you someday.

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