March 2024 by ZK Property Management
I am a local landlord who is interested in offering more of my properties through the housing voucher program (Section 8), however the process is far too lengthy and tedious. The inspection is not an issue, nor are the requirements, but the actual amount of time it takes from the point a prospective tenant drops off their RFTA packet, until I even hear back to see if they're approved, is often around 2.5 to 3 weeks. Then, if they're approved, there's another 2 weeks for the inspection and final paperwork. However if they're NOT approved, you have to wait for the letter and go through the song and dance again.First, if it could be streamlined to receive an answer about whether or not a prospective tenant would be approved within 5-7 business days, this would GREATLY assist so that I and other landlords are not sitting around and wondering for nearly 3 weeks, losing time and potential income from our properties. Second, instead of waiting for a letter in the mail, a phone call or email would help speed up the process immensely, too! Imagine how annoying it is, as a landlord, to provide your phone number AND email address on the RFTA form, yet have to wait an extra 2-3 business days for a letter in the mail to tell you that a prospective tenant was denied due to X reason... well, now I need to call YMHA anyway to ask about this and see what can be done, so why not eliminate the wasted time and simply place the phone call OR SEND AN EMAIL! Seriously, it's 2024... why are we wasting time and paper when we can be sending emails?PLEASE, YMHA, I hope that you will find this comment and take my concerns into consideration. I understand that it is a government agency and likely have a limited budget, but at the very least there's no reason why we can't cut the process down a few days by having better communication via phone and email rather than snail mail (which sometime get lost -- USPS has incorrectly delivered a few letters from YMHA for other individuals to my own address twice now!)Aside from my complaints, everyone that I come in contact with is kind and as helpful as can be whenever I have to go into the YMHA office. It's just the RFTA process is SUCH a pain, that it's understandable why many landlords do not want to have to deal with losing an entire 1-2 months of potential rental income waiting for responses of if a tenant is approved... and if they're not, and you have to go through the process again, well there's another month of rental income lost for each time.
