An Important Note Regarding the PHA HCV Landlord Recruitment Program

Questions have arisen in the news as to whether PHA is, and has been, actively recruiting and certifying landlords for its Housing Choice Voucher Program.

In fact, over the past few years, PHA has been recruiting and certifying  landlords in record numbers. In an effort to meet the strong demand from  HCV (Section 8)  voucher holders, PHA decided to incentivize landlords who agreed to lease to Section 8 tenants. The program has been a success. PHA has recruited more over 800 new HCV landlords since 2021 when it first began offering HCV signing incentives and other perks. PHA recently extended the landlord recruitment campaign until September 30, 2023. There are over 5,200 active landlords under the HCV program, and 2,435 of them have qualified for these widely publicized financial incentives. Moreover, during 2022, about 500 new landlords rented a total of 2,000 apartments to voucher holders for the first time. The Authority has paid its landlords more than $1.5 million in incentives to help low-income tenants compete for private housing and compensate landlords for the time required to process a voucher and inspect units.

When COVID 19 shutdown PHA in mid-March 2020, PHA temporarily suspended the HCV Owner Briefings and HCV Owner Certifications class for three months.  PHA re-started both classes virtually in July 2020.    

The HCV Owner Briefings has been scheduled every Wednesday since July 2020 with the only cancellations the day before Thanksgiving.    The Owner Briefing was virtual from 2020 to 2022 and has been in person since January 2023, with an average of over 30 attendees per week, and a total of over 5,000 attendees have participated in these briefings since 2020.     

Additionally, PHA’s  HCV Owner Certification Class has been scheduled every Tuesday since July 2020 (PHA actually held two classes during 2021 due to the demand after the 2020 shutdowns).   Due its length of three hours has remained virtual since 2020. An average 35 attendees participated in the Certification Class per week, with over 5,000 registered and attended since 2020.   It is important to note that not every attendee is a landlord, many are agents, property managers, realtors who working directly with landlords and attend to understand the nuances of the HCV program and how to successfully conduct business with PHA’s HCV program.