Who is my landlord if I live in government-assisted housing?

It depends. If you live in PUBLIC HOUSING, the local Public Housing Authority (PHA)—run by your city or county—owns your entire building and is your landlord. In rare cases, a private company may manage the building for the PHA or may be part of the ownership, but the building is still controlled by the PHA. PHAs operate in almost every city and county in California.

If you live in OTHER TYPES OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT-ASSISTED HOUSING, the PHA is not your landlord. This includes all of the other types of government-assisted housing discussed on PG. 353 above. Even if you applied through the PHA, it will not be your landlord. Instead, your landlord will be a private owner who receives financial assistance from the federal government in exchange for renting to low-income people, or a private owner that accepts vouchers from low-income people who went through a PHA to get a reduction on their rent. Owners of government-assisted housing could be individual landlords, for-profit companies, or nonprofit organizations. You can get this type of government-assisted housing through VOUCHERS, where you get the assistance from a PHA and then have to find rental housing on the private market that will accept your voucher. OR you can get this type of government-assisted housing through “multifamily” properties where the owner gets the assistance and it stays with the property to keep it affordable for low-income tenants.