Elevate Housing Solutions’ CEO, Dr. Michael C. Threatt, facilitated a live seminar at the 2025 SERSHA Conference on Marketing Campaigns for Section 8 Landlords
SANFORD, NC, UNITED STATES, April 24, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Elevate Housing Solutions, LLC announced today that its Principal & Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Michael C. Threatt, has returned to the national housing conversation as The Section 8 Landlord Coach®, following his facilitation of a live educational webinar with the American Apartment Owners Association (AAOA) titled How to Turn Section 8 Housing into a Profitable Rental Strategy.
The AAOA webinar marked Dr. Threatt’s first national landlord training in more than a year. It signaled a deliberate re-entry into landlord and real estate investor education after an extended season of executive leadership within public housing authorities (PHAs). The live session focused on helping landlords understand how the Section 8 program, when approached with the right strategy and systems, can operate as a stable, predictable, and profitable rental model rather than a source of ongoing frustration.
National Recognition and AAOA Partnership
In 2023, the AAOA recognized Dr. Threatt with its Best Section 8 Expert Award, acknowledging his ability to translate policy, compliance, and operational complexity into practical, landlord-centered strategies. AAOA continued to seek Dr. Threatt’s involvement in its national education platform for nearly two years, culminating in the recent live webinar.
“I am grateful to God for my ability to influence the industry. I knew I could not continue to sit on the sidelines as a PHA executive as I watched the relationships with Section 8 Landlords worsen.”— Dr. Michael C. Threatt, Principal & CEO, Elevate Housing Solutions, LLC.
Executive Leadership That Shaped the Return
Dr. Threatt’s return to national education follows his season ending in mid-April as the CEO of the Sanford Housing Authority (SHA) in North Carolina, marking the close of his service at what would become his seventh and final PHA. With that decision, he formally retired from the PHA institution after more than two decades of leadership in the public housing sector.
When Dr. Threatt accepted the CEO role at the SHA, the agency ranked in the bottom 4% nationally and faced significant challenges across compliance, finance, program operations, and landlord participation. For the next 17 months, Dr. Threatt’s focus was singular. His work centered on stabilizing troubled programs, correcting systemic issues, rebuilding internal operations, and repositioning the remaining public housing portfolio.
“I did not inherit a high-performing organization,” Dr. Threatt has said of the assignment. “I inherited a troubled agency on the brink of a federal HUD receivership. That level of instability required complete focus and TLC.”
That reality became even clearer as Dr. Threatt completed the Repositioning Study for the SHA with Dominion Due Diligence Group (DG3). The study examined RAD PBV and RAD/Section 18 strategies that rely on tenant protection vouchers and on the need for Section 8 landlords. Seeing landlords exit the program at scale reinforced the urgency of addressing landlord withdrawal.
“I watched landlords take entire portfolios off the Section 8 program,” he explained. “Not individual units. Entire apartment communities left the program. When that happens, families lose housing opportunities, agencies lose inventory, and the system shows its cracks.”
In response, and before concluding his season at the SHA, Dr. Threatt intentionally launched the Attract–Recruit–Retain Central Carolina Landlords marketing campaign, designed to rebuild relationships with landlords, and began offering the Landlord Incentive Program.
Research, MTW Innovation, and a Full Circle Moment
Prior to his work at the SHA, Dr. Threatt led, wrote, and implemented the Moving to Work (MTW) Landlord Incentives Cohort #3 designation at the Dothan Housing Authority (DHA) in Alabama. He helped the DHA become a top 4% PHA nationwide. The initiative was built directly on his doctoral dissertation research on Section 8 landlords and their reasons for leaving the program, and ways to improve it from their perspective.
As the MTW demonstration program celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, Dr. Threatt’s work reflects the direct translation of academic research into operational practice.
Regional Leadership Through SERSHA
Dr. Threatt’s return to national education is further reinforced by his leadership within the Southeast Regional Section 8 Housing Association, Inc. (SERSHA) as President-elect, which represents PHAs and housing professionals across ten southern states.
In March 2025, Dr. Threatt facilitated a live educational seminar at the 2025 SERSHA Conference titled “Best Practices to Attract, Recruit, & Retain Section 8 Landlords Through Engagement and Incentives.” The session focused on practical, market-responsive strategies PHAs can use to rebuild landlord trust, improve recruitment, and strengthen long-term landlord retention in increasingly competitive rental markets.
Retiring From the Institution, Not the Mission
Following his season ending at the SHA, Dr. Threatt formally retired from the PHA institution, but not from the affordable housing mission itself. He has recommitted to Elevate Housing Solutions, LLC full-time, focusing on Consulting, Coaching, and Courses (education) for PHAs, landlords, and real estate investors.
At the same time, Dr. Threatt returned to academia, joining the Edward Waters University Master of Public Administration (MPA) program as an Adjunct Professor, bringing executive-level, lived experience directly into the classroom for graduate students.
Writing, Scholarship, and What Comes Next
Dr. Threatt holds a Doctor of Public Administration from West Chester University. His doctoral research formed the foundation of his first book, The Price of Bureaucracy: Removing Section 8 Landlord Pain Points Through the Investment in Technology, which examines how red tape and outdated systems frustrate landlords and drive landlords to withdraw from the Section 8 program.
The book draws directly on Dr. Threatt’s research and executive-level experience and has been validated through real-world implementation, contributing to measurable performance improvements for PHAs across America.
Dr. Threatt confirmed that he will announce his second book in the coming months, and he has put his cape back on for another superhero moment.
A Purposeful Return
As Dr. Threatt reenters the national conversation as The Section 8 Landlord Coach®, his message remains clear: the future of the Section 8 program still depends on strong landlord partnerships.
“When you have lived on all three sides of the Section 8 Program,” Dr. Threatt concluded, “silence becomes complicity. This work is about saying what needs to be said before more landlords decide to walk away.”
Dr. Michael C. Threatt
Elevate Housing Solutions, LLC
+1 205-552-9491
mthreatt@elevatehousing.com
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Dr Michael Threatt – Analyzing Section 8 Housing
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