I used to work for a lawyer, (investigations and process service), whose practice was 75% evictions 25% criminal/civil defense. In Cali it took a minimum of 39 days to start the process for eviction. The first thing required was a 30 day notice to pay. After the 30 days were up he had to file an unlawful detainer suit. The court would set a court date 30-0 days out. If the tenant did not appear he got his judgement, but if they did appear with a lawyer the case could, not always, get extended for “discovery” etc. Govt subsided evictions took even longer to get to the judgement stage. Once you have the judgement you have to wait for the Sheriff to post the eviction notice, wait 30 more and then the Sheriff could do the lock out and hand the property over to the owner/landlord.
Point is, at least in Cali, they are not in danger of immediate eviction. Most states are similar, but some may have shorter court time lines.
To add to my earlier post, Section 8 rules for eviction for non tenant breach of lease are:
Section 8 Program - Owners
Tenant Issues and Contract Terminations
What should I do if a Section 8 tenant is not complying with the lease, not paying rent (on time or at all), or doing something illegal?
If a Section 8 tenant is not complying with the lease, including not paying rent, you should take the same action as you would with an unassisted tenant. The only difference is that you must notify the Housing Authority of any actions taken.
Give the tenant a written notice of the lease violation(s) and a deadline for compliance, and send us a copy. If the tenant fails to comply, you may proceed with eviction according to state and local law.
If a tenant is not in violation of the lease, and you wish to terminate the contract (for reasons including business or economic purposes, or if you want to move into the unit), you are required to serve the tenant with a 90-day notice and provide a copy of the notice to the Housing Authority. California Civil Code Section 1954.535 requires owners to give subsidized tenants a lengthier notice to vacate than unassisted tenants, to reflect the difficulty low-income families face in locating housing.
Owners cannot terminate a Section 8 contract for non-lease violations during the first year of Section 8 tenancy. For guidance on Lease violations, please refer to the California Tenant Handbook.
I would think that if the tenant pays his/her portion of the rent on time then a court could possibly refuse to evict him/her, but at the least the 90 day notice may apply. It is possible that the section 8 contract provides for the tenant to be responsible for the govt’s portion of the rent if the govt fails to pay it. I don’t know that answer.