Housing Authority of the County of Santa Clara

This organization is amazing. Landlords, do not even bother going this route. A family friend got lucky with their tenant but once you get screwed over, you get really screwed over. It is better to find tenants on your own than via this process via HA, since they will not help at all and they do not take any responsibilities, despite the fact they are sponsoring these people. They end up blaming the landlord and saying it is the landlord and tenants’ problem. It is amazing how they do not thoroughly screen these individuals. If they think they have tried their best, they need to hire people to help them conduct a program evaluation. They need feedback from professionals and implement changes.
I can understand how these tenants may have cheated the system to get the vouchers w/​o HA knowing (they also got lied to by the sketch individuals), but there is no excuse as to how they still allow these people to remain in the program. HA should at least remove people from the program when they trash and basically destroy a house. For HA to not remove these individuals from the program is basically a slap in the face for the landlord.

Full of idiots, they only care on $$$ not the people

Unhelpful, mean, rude and loses all your paperwork and says they never recieved it even though you drop it off to them in the front. Looks down on you if you are on housing and section 8. Jerks.

So these brilliant minds got together again and decided that it would be a good strategic decision to stop sending email notification to owners telling them that their rent has been deposited. Instead, they’ve decided to print confirmation letters and pay to have them mailed out.
Good news — our post offices need the extra revenue
Bad news — they’re a government institution, so I’m assuming that tax payer money is paying for this retarded decision to waste money.

Affordable housing is a rare thing in the valley. In a perfect world a section 8 voucher holder will help someone find a home for themselves or their family. In the real world many voucher holders are taking advantage of a beaurocratic system that is not being carefully monitored by the county employees.
In the seven years I spent dealing with the Housing Authority and its employees I have more horror stories than positive things to say. The first horror story occurred when the inspector who came to one of my properties lost the property owner’s payment information (address, name, SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER, etc.). I didn’t even get an apology from the supervisor who handled the ordeal. The second horror story is their habit of making payments on their timetable. A second voucher holder lived at a property for 3 months before the Housing Authority paid the first month’s rent. Another time I reported drug use by a voucher holder and instead of taking away their voucher the Housing Authority let them stay and advised me not to terminate their contract. I can keep going but I think you get the point. Word to the wise – SCREEN YOUR TENANTS, GET A DEPOSIT UPFRONT, AND BE SURE TO ENFORCE THE RULES OF YOUR RENTAL AGREEMENT.
I know the HACSC staff used to do home inspections to monitor the voucher holders. Due to budget constraints they stopped doing this years ago and in my experience some of the voucher holders are really taking advantage of this. Whenever I advertised a property in the last 3 years I had over a dozen voucher holders apply and tell me up front they would have their boyfriend/​baby daddy/​ex convict relative/​ankle-​monitoring-​bracelet friend living with them in direct violation of their voucher provisions. Or they would ask me if I had a problem with marijuana smoking and cultivating because they have a 215 card… Personally I don’t care if working responsible adults get high but I have a problem when a voucher holder gets high and my tax dollars pay their rent. Another time a voucher holder who paid less than $ 20 a month actually owned a boat and recreational vehicle. Seriously?! These are your tax dollars at work…