Voucher Landlord HubSection 8 rents and payment standards, with sources
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Housing Authority of the City and County of San Francisco (SFHA) · effective January 1, 2026

San Francisco, CA Section 8 payment standards

The voucher payment standards Housing Authority of the City and County of San Francisco (SFHA) publishes, copied from its own schedule[1], with HUD's FY2027 Fair Market Rents for comparison.

Not legal advice — verify current state law and have an attorney review for your state. Payment standards change, and the housing authority's rent-reasonableness review, utility allowance and the family's income decide what it will actually pay. Verify the current amount with the housing authority before you set a rent.

Official schedule. New payment standards effective 1/1/2026 for all transactions (document rev. 5/1/2026). SFHA lists them at 110% of HUD's FY26 FMRs.[1] Retrieved October 21, 2026.

Payment standards

ScheduleSROStudio1 BR2 BR3 BR4 BR5 BR6 BR
Tenant-based vouchers$2,050$2,733$3,274$3,964$5,064$5,249$6,036$6,823

SFHA lists the 6-bedroom amount as "SIX"; project-based and EHV vouchers have their own tables in the same document.

HUD FY2027 Fair Market Rents: San Francisco County, CA

HUD area: San Francisco, CA HUD Metro FMR Area. A housing authority's schedule can be based on an earlier FMR year or on ZIP-level Small Area FMRs, so it won't always match these figures.

Unit sizeFY2027 FMR
Studio$2,574[3]
1 BR$3,003[3]
2 BR$3,697[3]
3 BR$4,832[3]
4 BR$5,439[3]

Full San Francisco County FMR page

How landlords use this

It caps the subsidy, not your rent

The payment standard is the most the housing authority will count toward rent plus tenant-paid utilities. The rent still has to pass its rent-reasonableness review.

The 40% rule at move-in

For a new lease, if the gross rent is above the payment standard, the family's share can't be more than 40% of its monthly adjusted income.

Treat every applicant the same

Use the same written screening criteria for voucher holders as for everyone else. Many states and cities prohibit refusing renters because they pay with a voucher; check your local law.

Sources

  1. SFHA, Payment Standards 2026, rev. 5/1/2026 (PDF) (retrieved October 21, 2026): https://sfha.org/files/documents/SFHA%20Payment%20Standards%202026%20Rev.%205.1.2026.pdf
  2. SFHA, Payment Standards page (retrieved October 21, 2026): https://sfha.org/resources-forms/payment-standards
  3. HUD USER, FY2027 Fair Market Rents, county-level file (FY27_FMRs.xlsx) (retrieved October 21, 2026): https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/fmr2027/FY27_FMRs.xlsx