Straight Up Chicago Investor Episode 419: What You Need to Know to Determine Section 8 Rental Amounts With Mark Ainley
Dec 16, 2025
Mark Ainley, a Chicago-area real estate investor who knows Section 8 and HUD processes, breaks down rent determination for voucher holders. He compares city vs suburb payment standards. He explains backing out utilities, verifying CHA rent sheets, bedroom-size limits, inspection quirks, pre-inspection determinations, challenging rents, and rules on extra fees like parking and appliances.
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Use Payment Standards And Subtract Utilities
- Check county housing authority payment standards online to see the maximum voucher by zip code and bedroom size.
- Subtract utility allowances (roughly $100 per utility) from that max because the published max assumes landlord-paid utilities.
Get The Rent Burden Sheet For Chicago Applicants
- Chicago's CHA process differs from suburban payment standards; get a tenant's rent burden sheet to see their actual approved amount.
- The rent burden sheet shows the top-line voucher number but you still must back out utilities before approving a tenant.
Voucher Size Not Unit Bedroom Count
- Vouchers are tied to an approved bedroom size, not the physical number of rooms in the unit.
- Tenants often search up a size (e.g., three-bedroom) while only holding a smaller voucher (e.g., two-bedroom), which caps the allowable rent.