Minnesota Section 8 Tenants Lose their Vouchers

Tenants: How to lose your Section 8 Voucher

I had several tenants lose their Minnesota Section 8 voucher in 2007. One tenant had 4 kids with a three bedroom Section 8 voucher and another tenant was a single person with a two bedroom voucher. They lost their voucher for one of the following reasons:

I evicted one for non-payment of rent. This tenant was only responsible for 20% ($150) of the total rent each month and chose to stop paying the portion and returning my calls.
One tenant gave me proper notice to move, but I believe that she did not notify and keep in contact with her Section 8 coordinator about the move and the new apartment she signed a lease for. Consequently, she lost almost $900 per month in rent subsidy.
Another tenant decided to break their lease after only six months (which is not allowed by Section 8). Subsequently, she lost a $1200 per month voucher.

The saddest part of these stories is that there is a 5 year waiting list to get onto Section 8 in Minnesota (and I am not sure that once you lose your voucher that you are even eligible to get back on the program).

The reason for me to write this article is not to educate tenants, but to help Minnesota investment property owners. You can help your tenants (and subsequently yourself), if you know the rules regarding rent subsidy and Section 8. In fact, I have saved several tenant’s vouchers in the past years by stopping them from making these costly mistakes. Consequently, many times, this simple help has in turn saved me from having an unexpected vacant unit or other problems/costs.

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