We have the same thing here where sec 8 drives the rental housing market, or at least it use to before gentrification. In essence though you could save that sec 8 drives the gentrification market because in order to keep from having to rent to low income renters they have to keep their prices considerably higher then what sec 8 will pay. Back quite a few years ago I wrote a editorial in the press after a story ran that sec 8 was complaining that landlords didn't want to rent to them because they'd have to keep their properties up. The fact is though is that city certification which is required is a higher standard then what sec 8 requires. The problem I told them was they often take women and children in crisis centers/homeless shelters and put them at the top of the list. A lot of these women in crisis centers are there because of domestic violence, and as much as we don't want to say it it's true that a woman often will go back to her abuser several times before (and if ever) decides to finally leave them. Landlords aren't privy to kicked in doors, broken windows and holes in the walls. Women in homeless centers their children are often subjected to conditions that if you are a homeowner living next to them don't want that same kind of influence upon their own kids. Then there was the fact that sec 8 also paid the same amount for everyone regardless of how many people lived there. So a single person or a person with one child could rent a more expensive three bedroom, then the landlord expecting to be renting to one or two people find out the tenant then rents out that additional bedroom. A single individual should be allowed one bedroom, it would save money and allow for better use of the funds to others that needed it then to let someone undermine sec8 and use it for additional income. After that letter sec 8 changed the rules here, single person could get a one bedroom, a mother with two kids could get a two bedroom if the children were of the same sex or if a child had disability that kept them from sharing a room. The whole thing was crazy trying to put all that stuff off on landlords when sec 8 had so many faults of their own, it was bad enough that it wasn't until the implementation of sec 8 did rents start sky rocketing through the roof. There's the crowd to who will tell landlords I can get you more then you want, I've always been pretty reasonable and have had that line played on me several times by sec 8. I'd rather ask a reasonable price I know people can afford, I am positive it is one reason I've been so profitable as a landlord. I'd also rather take a couple hundred less and not have to put thousands into damages by accepting a couple hundred more when they get done with it.