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Section 8

Citation
Section 8
Parent Document
Theodore Hayes v. Philip Harvey, 874 F.3d 98 (2017)
Effective Date
2017-10-18
Original Source
https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4435296/theodore-hayes-v-philip-harvey/ ↗

Other Sections in This Document (260)

Full Text

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But enhanced vouchers are available only to tenants living in buildings that formerly received project-based section 8 assistance. The set of landlords affected is small and, more importantly, relatively fixed, as compared with the full marketplace of all rental property owners.5 Most landlords cannot accept enhanced vouchers, and decisions about whether to apply for project-based assistance (and then potentially opt out) are measured in decades rather than months. Congress might therefore have perceived less need to encourage landlord participation: it could have concluded that most property owners affected were already in the program. Meanwhile, ordinary voucher holders move through the private housing market like ordinary consumers. But because enhanced voucher holders all previously benefited from project-based subsidies, linked to particular buildings, Congress might have considered them more deserving of a right to stay in those particular buildings (just as the Hayes family has lived in their home for 35 years, since it was first built).6 Thus, Congress might well have weighed landlord incentives against tenant protections differently in this context. See also Estevez, 2005 WL 3164146 at *6 (“[Precisely because of the repeal of the endless lease provision, it made perfect sense for Congress to enact a law expressly intended to protect eligible tenants (through the use of enhanced vouchers) from losing their homes upon the expiration of project-based assistance contract.”).