I suspect for landlords, Section 8 will no longer be voluntary.
I used to know somebody who lived in a middle class suburban neighborhood. He owned about 10 houses on his street. He said as he became more wealthy he bought houses on his street so he could control who lived near him He was very selective who he rented to. Mostly he rented to people from his church.
A small scale landlord such as him, compelled to rent to Section 8 people, might just abandon the properties instead.
I see many accidental fires of rental properties happening if that's the case.
That’s already being pushed in places like Austin as a regulation against “income discrimination”, saying you can’t refuse tenants who have housing income.
There are likely legal challenges if they pass, because you have to join a government program to become a Section 8 landlord.
So what happens when a tenant says “I have section 8, rent to me”, and the landlord says “I’m not in the section 8 program”? Will HUD now FORCE all landlords to enroll in the program, like we all have to have an Obamacare health insurance plan or pay a fine?