Section 8 Housing Assistance - Landlord and Tenant Responsibility

Landlord Responsibility:

• Tenant screening, selection of family and leasing of the unit.
• Perform all management and renting functions.
• Perform all ordinary and extraordinary maintenance.
• Pay for owner supplied utilities.
• Assure compliance with Housing assistance Payment Voucher contract.
• Comply with and enforce the lease.

Tenant Responsibility:

• Find suitable housing.
• Provide income and family information needed to verify and certify eligibility, annually and interim re-examination.
• Allow the Housing Authority to inspect the unit. Repair damages caused by family.
• Abide by all family obligations as defined in the Housing Choice Voucher.
• Avoid committing serious or repeated violations of the lease.
  

Reasonable Accommodation

People with disabilities may need a reasonable accommodation in order to take full advantage of the WHA Housing Programs and related services. When such accommodations are granted, they do not confer special treatment or advantage for the person with a disability; rather, they make the program fully accessible to them in a way that would otherwise not be possible due to their disability.

Persons with disabilities may request a reasonable accommodation in order to fully utilize the program. The WHA will make all reasonable efforts to be flexible in assisting persons with disabilities to participate in the program successfully. Requests for accommodations will be verified to ensure that the accommodation is reasonable.

Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 (VAWA)

This federal law applies to men, women and children. It prohibits PHAs from denying assistance to otherwise qualified applicants simply because they are victims of domestic violence or stalking. VAWA also prohibits PHAs and HCV owners from considering actual or threatened domestic violence, dating violence, or stalking as a cause for terminating the tenancy, occupancy, or program assistance of the victim. PHAs and Landlords may ask for certification documentation of victim status, but must keep information relating to a family's domestic violence circumstances in strict confidence under the law.