What is the difference between rental assistance and limited rents?
Federal affordable housing programs tend to fall under two broad categories, those offering rental assistance and those offering limited rents. Rental assistance typically refers to programs where the government has contracted with a landlord for a specific rent level. The renter pays a portion of the rent, usually based on a percentage of their adjusted income, and the government pays the remainder of the contract rent. Most often, the renters portion of the rent is limited to no more than 30% of their adjusted income. Examples of this type of program include HUD Section 8, USDA Section 515, and others. Programs offering limited rents typically place a ceiling on the rents a landlord may charge for an apartment. These ceilings are normally tied to some measurement of the average or median income in a community. The landlord contracts with the government to charge rents that are at or below that level. Normally the renter pays the entire rent in these cases, but the rent is often less
