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Comment by JadeNB | Hacker News Reader

> I used to have this same mentality. Until the person who was renting one of my properties decided to lie about certain issues (like claiming a shampoo bottle lodged down one of the toilets was there for years). When I decided to not renew the lease with that tenant, they decided to cause considerable damage to our property.

Surely the lesson here is that "this person was a criminally inconsiderate jerk", not "all Section 8 tenants are untrustworthy". (cr__ put it more punchily while I was posting: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23409805 .)

> Sometimes, when things come easy to people, they don't appreciate it. Holding people accountable helps them lift themselves up too.

How does denying housing to someone who needs it help them lift themselves up?

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There is a 'blood from a stone' aspect from lower income tenants. If they trash a house and cause six figure damages to your property, your not getting your money back, and typically landlord insurance does not cover intentional damage:

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:CoWtuC...

Also people growing up in poverty experience higher stress, so the probability of them doing the 'going mental' thing is higher.

Many mom & pop and breaking even on a mortgage landlords cannot afford that kind of catastrophic loss.

If a rich person or rich person's kid cause this damage. Expect them not to pay and expect lawsuits.

You have to be careful who you rent to. Sometimes someone down on their luck would make a much less demanding and better tenant overall. Be careful chasing away the poor because they actual need your place and may take better care.

You can get vandalism insurance. I don't know any landlord that does get it, though.

Vandalism insurance doesn't necessarily cover intentional damage by tenants on a property.

As a challenge, I would like you to find an landlord insurance policy that explicitly covers intentional damage by a tenant and a price estimate on the internet, because I'm having a hard time finding it!

I'm not sure where you jumped to the conclusion about denying housing. I have no problems with section 8. I gladly accept section 8. What I have a problem with is (and I speak from first hand experience), is allowing someone who is on section 8 to not pay their portion. I allowed this, got burned and learned a lesson.

I thought I was being kind and "helping them out". When, in reality, that individual didn't appreciate it and they didn't take better care of the place because of it. When other factors (e.g. the lying) caused me to not want to renew with the tenant, they caused over 10k damage and flooded my house in retaliation.

> I'm not sure where you jumped to the conclusion about denying housing.

I am sorry that I read too quickly, and misunderstood your point, which I think I now understand. Although I see now that you specifically quoted your parent's point "if they can't pay the hundred bucks the government won't I sure don't care" before disagreeing with it, I reacted too quickly and thought incorrectly that you were disagreeing with the parent's broader point about why it was good to have Section 8 tenants.

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