Section 8 portability: moving with your voucher

What portability means

A Housing Choice Voucher is tenant-based: the assistance follows the family rather than staying with a unit. Federal rules give voucher holders and participants the right to use that assistance outside the issuing agency’s area, anywhere in the United States where a housing agency runs a voucher program. The move from one agency to another is called portability or “porting.”

Two agencies are involved:

• The initial agency is the one that issued your voucher.
• The receiving agency administers your assistance in the new area.

Who can port—and when

Participants (already leasing with a voucher) can generally move when:

• The lease term has ended or the lease is terminated by mutual agreement
• You have a right to end the lease and give proper notice
• The owner has given you a notice to vacate or started an eviction
• The move is needed to protect a household member who is a survivor of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking

Agencies may adopt policies that prohibit moves during the initial lease term or more than one move in a 12-month period. Those limits do not apply to moves covered by VAWA protections.

New voucher holders can usually port right away and search in the new area—unless the nonresident rule below applies.

The 12-month rule for nonresident applicants

If neither the head of household nor spouse had a legal residence in the initial agency’s area when you first applied, then for the first 12 months after admission:

• You can lease anywhere in the initial agency’s jurisdiction
• You do not have a right to port
• The initial agency may still approve a move

This rule does not apply when a move is needed for safety under VAWA.

When a move can be denied

• Insufficient funding: the initial agency may deny a move to a higher-cost area if it cannot afford the increased subsidy under a billing arrangement, and it must notify HUD within 10 business days when it starts denying moves for this reason.
• Program violations: either agency can deny or terminate assistance for grounds such as unreported income, owing the agency money, or criminal activity covered by program rules.
• Moving out in violation of the lease: the initial agency must not provide portable assistance if you broke the lease to leave, except for VAWA safety moves.

Step-by-step: how to port

1. Check your lease. Know when your term ends and how much notice your landlord requires. Breaking a lease without a legal right can cost you the voucher.
2. Tell your current agency in writing that you want to move and where (city, county, or state). Also give your landlord proper written notice.
3. If there is more than one agency in the new area, the initial agency gives you their contacts and you choose one as the receiving agency (or the initial agency chooses for you).
4. The agencies coordinate. Before approving your move, the initial agency must contact the receiving agency to learn whether it will absorb your voucher into its own program or bill the initial agency.
5. Get your moving voucher. The initial agency issues or reissues your voucher and sends the receiving agency your portability packet (form HUD-52665, your most recent HUD-50058, and verification documents).
6. Contact the receiving agency promptly and follow its procedures. Many require a briefing for incoming families. Failing to contact them can lead to denial.
7. Receive the receiving agency’s voucher. Its term must run at least 30 days past the expiration date of your initial voucher, and its extension policies apply from then on.
8. Search and lease up in the new area. The Request for Tenancy Approval is submitted to the receiving agency, and the voucher term is suspended while it is reviewed.
9. Inspection and contract. The unit must pass the receiving agency’s inspection before assistance begins.

Absorption vs. billing

This is an agency-to-agency funding decision, but it affects you in two ways:

What changes after you port

• Payment standards and utility allowances are the receiving agency’s. A move to a more expensive market usually comes with higher payment standards, but not always enough to cover higher rents.
• Bedroom size is based on the receiving agency’s subsidy standards, so your voucher size can change.
• Income recertification: the receiving agency does not redetermine your eligibility as a participant, but it may conduct a new reexamination of income. It may not delay issuing your voucher or approving a unit to do so.
• Policies such as interim reporting, extensions, and informal hearings follow the receiving agency’s administrative plan, including Moving to Work rules if it is an MTW agency.

Special-purpose vouchers

HUD-VASH, Mainstream, and other special-purpose vouchers can often be ported, but some have added conditions. HUD-VASH, for example, generally requires that case management be available in the new area through the VA. Ask both agencies before you give notice.

Practical tips

• Research the new market first. Check the receiving agency’s payment standards and whether local law protects voucher holders from source-of-income discrimination.
• Plan housing for the gap. Keep a place to stay while you search; the receiving agency cannot pay for a unit until it passes inspection.
• Get everything in writing, including the date your old HAP contract ends and your new voucher’s expiration date.
• Budget for moving costs, security deposits, and utility deposits in the new area. See moving cost assistance.
• Keep both agencies’ contacts until your new lease is signed.

Moving within the same agency

Moving to another unit inside your agency’s area follows similar steps without the second agency: give notice to the owner and agency, get a new voucher issued, submit a new Request for Tenancy Approval, and pass inspection. The same limits on moves during the initial lease or more than once a year may apply.

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