You may not know that California landlords cannot discriminate against an applicant just because they have a housing voucher (aka: Section 8).
As always there are pros and cons to Section 8 applications.
The pro is that many landlords appreciate because it’s a guaranteed source of income. They know that part of the rent will be paid because it’s coming from a government agency and not an individual.
The cons are there are a number of hurdles, including a home inspection, verified habitability, compliance, approved residency and other tasks. The delay in getting approved and prepared could cost a lot of money in opportunity income due to extended vacancy periods.
In the past, the Section 8 process simply wasn’t worth a landlord’s time.
You are now required to allow Section 8 and other housing voucher applicants to participate just like everybody else, but this does not mean any of your other screening criteria has to be changed in any way. You can still have the same income and credit criteria as well as require the same qualification verifications.