Not All Incomes Are the Same

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Did you know that the housing authority excludes some incomes when determining a Section 8 HCV family’s adjusted monthly income?

The housing authority uses the adjusted monthly income of the Section 8 HCV family to determine if the owner’s asking rent is affordable. They calculate by adding together the earned income (ie. wages), unearned income (ie. Social Security Income), and any applicable incomes from assets of all household members. What is not commonly known is some incomes are not included, instead they are excluded from determining the adjusted monthly income.

Some common income exclusions are;

• Income from the employment of children under the age of 18
• Payments received for the care of foster children or foster adults
• Income of a live-in aide
• Temporary, non-recurring or sporadic income (gifts, lottery winnings, etc.)
• Earnings of more than $480 per year for each full-time student 18 years old or older
• Adoption assistance payments of more than $480 per year per adopted child

In addition, there are federally mandated income exclusions. Some common federal income exclusions are;

• Food Stamps
• Payments received under Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA)
• Amounts of scholarships or awards of work-study
• Childcare awards (Crystal Stairs, etc.)
• Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) refund
• Allowances, earnings, and payments received under the Workforce Investment Act

The adjusted monthly income of the Section 8 HCV family provided by the housing authority may vary from what you calculated based upon these exclusions. Sounds confusing? It’s not, once you get the hang of it. For quicker results, with the family’s consent you can obtain their adjusted monthly income from the housing authority and use the Affordability Calculator during the tenant screening process to determine if your asking rent is affordable to that family based on their adjusted monthly income.