To become a Section 8 landlord in Michigan, you contact your local Public Housing Agency once a voucher holder wants to rent your unit, submit a Request for Tenancy Approval, pass a Housing Quality Standards inspection, and sign a Housing Assistance Payments contract that commits the agency to sending you a portion of the rent each month. Since April 2, 2025, Michigan law also treats source of income as a protected class, so refusing an applicant only because they hold a voucher is no longer permitted.
Who Runs the Program in Michigan
The Housing Choice Voucher program is federally funded by HUD, administered locally, and delivered by private landlords like you. The Michigan State Housing Development Authority operates as the statewide PHA, and dozens of local housing commissions run their own voucher programs across the state. Your local PHA is the office that handles applications, inspections, payments, and paperwork, so identifying the correct PHA for the area your rental sits in is the first practical step.
Once you’re in the program with an approved tenant, rent arrives as a split payment each month. The PHA sends its share directly to you, usually by direct deposit, and the tenant pays you the balance. The PHA’s share is typically the larger portion.
The Application and Approval Process
You don’t apply to the program in the abstract. The process starts when a voucher-holding tenant chooses your property and wants to rent it. From there:
- You and the tenant submit a Request for Tenancy Approval (Form HUD-52517) to the PHA. It lists the unit, the proposed rent, and which utilities are included.1U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Request for Tenancy Approval HUD-52517
- You provide the PHA with a W-9 for tax reporting, proof of ownership, and a copy of the proposed lease. Individual PHAs may ask for additional documents.
- The PHA schedules an inspection of the unit.
- The PHA runs a rent reasonableness review to compare your asking rent against similar unassisted units nearby.
- Once the unit passes inspection and the rent clears the reasonableness test, you sign a Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) contract with the PHA. The contract locks in the rent, spells out your maintenance obligations, and commits the PHA to sending you the monthly subsidy for the contract term.2U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Housing Assistance Payments Contract
Lease and Tenancy Addendum
You use your own standard lease, but you must attach the HUD tenancy addendum word for word. The addendum overrides any conflicting lease terms and sets program-specific rules on grounds for eviction, the PHA’s right to terminate assistance, and the tenant’s right to enforce the addendum against you.3eCFR. 24 CFR 982.308 – Lease and Tenancy The lease itself must name the owner and tenant, identify the unit, state the term and monthly rent, and list which utilities and appliances each side provides.4U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Form HUD 52530.c – Tenancy Addendum
Landlord and Property Eligibility
You need to be the legal owner (or an authorized agent). The PHA won’t approve a tenancy where the landlord is a parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or other close relative of anyone in the household, unless renting to that relative is a reasonable accommodation for a disability.
The property has to sit within a participating PHA’s jurisdiction. Beyond that, the program is flexible on unit type: single-family homes, duplexes, apartments, condos, and townhomes all qualify if they meet the physical standards.
Passing the Inspection
Every unit entering the program has to pass a Housing Quality Standards inspection before the HAP contract is executed. HQS covers structural soundness, functioning plumbing with hot and cold running water, safe electrical systems with covered outlets and switches, working heating, adequate lighting and ventilation, secure exterior locks, working smoke detectors, and freedom from pest infestations and other health hazards.5U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD-52580 – Inspection Checklist
If the unit fails, you get a written list of deficiencies and a repair window. Life-threatening hazards, such as exposed wiring, gas leaks, or a non-functioning heater in winter, generally have to be fixed within 24 hours. Other items get a longer window set by the PHA.
HUD is moving voucher inspections to a newer standard called NSPIRE, but PHAs administering the Housing Choice Voucher program aren’t required to adopt it until February 1, 2027. Most Michigan PHAs are still using the HQS checklist through 2026.6Federal Register. Extension of NSPIRE Compliance Date for Housing Choice Voucher Programs
Lead-Based Paint in Pre-1978 Properties
If your building went up before 1978, federal lead-based paint rules apply. You have to disclose any known lead hazards, provide tenants with an EPA lead pamphlet, and stabilize any chipping, peeling, or deteriorated paint in the unit and common areas before the unit can pass inspection.7HUD Exchange. Lead-Based Paint Regulations
The requirements are stricter when a child under six lives in or is expected to live in the unit. Deteriorated paint has to be stabilized using lead-safe work practices, and a clearance examination by a certified inspector may be required afterward. Any renovation, repair, or painting that disturbs paint in a pre-1978 property must be done by an EPA-certified renovation firm.8U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD Handbook 6509.2 – Chapter 24 Lead-Based Paint Compliance
What Rent You Can Actually Charge
Two figures shape your monthly check: the payment standard and the utility allowance. The payment standard is the maximum monthly subsidy the PHA will support for a given unit size, tied loosely to HUD’s Fair Market Rent for your area. For fiscal year 2026, two-bedroom Fair Market Rents in Michigan metros run:
- Detroit-Warren-Livonia: $1,411
- Grand Rapids-Wyoming: $1,531
- Ann Arbor: $1,656
- Lansing-East Lansing: $1,268
- Flint: $1,033
- Kalamazoo-Portage: $1,162
Your PHA’s actual payment standard may sit somewhat above or below these numbers.9U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. FY 2026 Schedule of Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Fair Market Rents
If your rent is at or below the payment standard, the tenant pays their calculated share (generally about 30 percent of adjusted monthly income) and the PHA covers the rest. If your rent runs above the payment standard, the tenant absorbs the difference, but the PHA will not approve a unit where the tenant’s total housing cost would exceed 40 percent of adjusted income.10U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Calculating Rent and Housing Assistance Payments
Utility Allowance
When the tenant pays utilities directly, the PHA deducts a utility allowance from the gross rent used in the calculation. Each PHA sets its own utility allowance schedule based on local energy costs, classified by unit size and by which utilities the tenant pays. If you cover all utilities yourself, no allowance is deducted.11eCFR. 24 CFR 982.517 – Utility Allowance Schedule Ask your local PHA how the utility split will affect your final numbers before you commit to an asking rent.
Rent Reasonableness Test
Your asking rent also has to pass a rent reasonableness review. The PHA compares your proposed rent to what landlords charge for similar unassisted units in the same market, weighing location, unit size, age, amenities, and condition. Rent that exceeds comparable unassisted units will be negotiated down or rejected.12U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Housing Choice Voucher Program Guidebook – Rent Reasonableness
Michigan’s 2025 Source of Income Law
On April 2, 2025, an amendment to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act made source of income a protected class in Michigan housing. Landlords can no longer refuse to rent, or treat an applicant differently, only because that person’s income comes from a housing voucher or rental subsidy.13Michigan Legislature. House Bill 4063 of 2023 – Public Act 200 of 2024
Before this law, accepting Section 8 tenants in Michigan was voluntary. It isn’t anymore. You can still apply the same screening standards you use for every applicant, including credit checks, rental history, and income verification, but a blanket “no Section 8” policy exposes you to a civil rights complaint with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.
Security Deposits
Michigan caps security deposits at one and a half times the monthly rent. At $1,000 rent, the deposit ceiling is $1,500. The cap applies to voucher holders like any other tenant, and neither side can waive it by agreement.14Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 554.602 – Security Deposit Amount
After move-out, once the tenant has given you a forwarding address, you have 30 days to either return the deposit or send an itemized list of damages you plan to deduct. Miss the 30-day window and you lose the right to use the deposit for damages, though you can still sue for actual damages within 45 days of move-out. If you neither return the deposit nor start a court action within 45 days, the tenant can sue you for double the deposit. Set a calendar reminder the day the keys come back.
Ongoing Landlord Duties
Collecting Rent
Each month the PHA sends its housing assistance payment straight to you and the tenant pays the balance separately. If the tenant falls behind on their share, that’s your problem to work out with the tenant. The HAP contract doesn’t put the PHA on the hook for the tenant’s portion.
Keeping the Unit in Compliance
The unit has to keep meeting HQS for as long as the HAP contract runs. If it falls out of compliance, the PHA can suspend payments until you fix the issue. Life-threatening deficiencies still carry the 24-hour repair rule; other items get a PHA-set window.2U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Housing Assistance Payments Contract
The PHA re-inspects the unit at least every two years (biennially rather than annually, under the current rule), and can inspect more often at its discretion or in response to a tenant complaint.15U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Notice PIH 2024-26, Rev-1
Requesting a Rent Increase
You can ask for a rent increase, with two conditions. You have to give the PHA and tenant at least 60 days’ written notice, and the new rent has to pass another rent reasonableness review. During the initial lease term, you can submit the request, but the increase can’t actually take effect until that initial term ends.16HUD Exchange. Are Owners Allowed To Request a Rent Increase During the Initial Lease Term
Ending the Tenancy
Evicting a voucher holder isn’t fundamentally different from any other Michigan eviction, but federal rules require good cause during the lease term. The allowable grounds are serious or repeated lease violations (including failure to pay the tenant’s share of rent), violation of law (criminal or drug-related activity connected to the tenant’s use of the unit), and other good cause such as refusal to sign a new lease or a pattern of property damage. Your own business reasons (selling, major renovation, personal use) count as good cause only after the initial lease term ends.
You have to give the tenant written notice specifying the grounds for termination, and send a copy to the PHA.17eCFR. 24 CFR 982.310 – Owner Termination of Tenancy Michigan sets the notice periods themselves: seven days for nonpayment of rent on a month-to-month tenancy, 30 days for other violations on a month-to-month tenancy, and 24 hours where controlled substances were manufactured or distributed on the premises and a formal police report has been filed.18Michigan Legislature. MCL 554.134 – Termination of Tenancies
After the notice period expires, if the tenant hasn’t vacated or cured, you file an eviction action in district court. Self-help removals (changing locks, shutting off utilities, moving belongings out) are illegal in Michigan. Court is the only lawful path.
Recovering for Damage
If the tenant leaves damage beyond normal wear and tear, your first recourse is the security deposit, applied through Michigan’s itemized notice process. If damage exceeds the deposit, you can pursue the former tenant in small claims or district court like any other landlord.
HUD’s special claims process, which reimburses landlords for unpaid rent and damage in some federally assisted housing, applies primarily to project-based Section 8 contracts, not the tenant-based Housing Choice Voucher program most Michigan landlords participate in. For tenant-based vouchers, the PHA isn’t financially responsible for tenant damage. Collect the maximum allowable deposit at move-in, photograph the unit at both move-in and move-out, and follow the 30- and 45-day deposit deadlines to the letter.