Rent regulation & tenants
Section 8
Umbrella label for rental assistance under 42 U.S.C. § 1437f: tenant-based vouchers, project-based vouchers, and legacy project-based HAP contracts.
Definition
"Section 8" is the umbrella label for rental assistance under Section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. § 1437f). Today it spans three families: tenant-based housing choice vouchers (24 C.F.R. Part 982) that move with the household; project-based vouchers (Part 983), where a PHA attaches a share of its voucher authority to specific units under a long-term contract; and legacy project-based rental assistance (PBRA) HAP contracts renewed under HUD's renewal rules.
All three pay owners the difference between a contract rent and the tenant contribution, but the counterparty, rent-setting, and inspection regimes differ by family.
Why it matters in an underwrite
Which Section 8 an asset carries changes the underwrite class: HCV tenancies are unit-by-unit operating decisions, while a PBV or PBRA contract is long-term contracted income that behaves like an affordable capital-stack component — priced off the HAP contract and its renewal path rather than street rents. Diligence starts with the paper: identify the program family, the contract's expiration and renewal terms, and the rent-adjustment mechanism (OCAF, budget-based, or reasonableness-tested) before trusting any pro forma growth rate.
Sources & related guides
See also
See the term in the law itself
Read the controlling text in the Code Library, or ask the AI how it applies to your project.
Last reviewed 2026-07-29. General information, not legal advice.