Rooms for Improvement: A Qualitative Metasynthesis of the Housing Choice Voucher Program

This article synthesizes housing subsidy voucher research to explain why, when in theory vouchers enable users to move out of poor neighborhoods, in practice they often do not. This qualitative meta-analysis presents an examination of the assumptions of the program and their relationship to empirical findings.

Two themes emerged from this synthesis: market barriers and product problems. Data from a variety of studies and contexts portray recipients struggling to use vouchers in the private rental market due to market barriers, including lack of public transportation and the presence of discrimination. Product problems constrained freedom of choice about where to move and when to make a housing transition. These constraints manifest as compromised housing quality and low voucher utilization. This synthetic view cannot account for all outcomes or exceptional cases, but results suggest where participant experiences are generalizable and attributable to features of the housing market and structure of the program itself.     

The Reconcentration of Poverty: Patterns of Housing Voucher Use, 2000 to 2008

In theory, housing choice vouchers provide low-income families with increased neighborhood options. However, previous research is mixed regarding whether the program promotes integration. Examining the 50 most populous U.S. metropolitan areas, I find that households using vouchers are more economically and racially segregated than an extremely low-income comparison group. However, voucher households in areas with source-of-income protection laws are less racially segregated than voucher households in areas without such laws.     

History lessons for today's housing policy: the politics of low-income housing

History offers valuable lessons to housing policymakers. For those who would devise new low-income housing programs during today's trying economic circumstances, it is helpful to study the strategies that succeeded in achieving low-income housing programs in past difficult times. This article, History Lessons for Today's Housing Policy, examines the political processes that led to the adoption of new low-income housing policies during four political crises. The four crises were the Great Depression of the 1930s, the post-World War II housing shortage, the urban crisis of the 1960s, and the policy crisis of the 1970s. Among other history lessons, the article reveals that well-organized political support, especially from large institutions, is crucial to achieving distinctly different new programs; that decentralized programs are more politically resilient than centralized programs; that programs that appeal to the nation's broad middle-class are most popular; and that policy research is valuable but that politics trumps research.     

A different lens: administrative perspectives on portability in Illinois' Housing Choice Voucher Program

Over the last decade, the Housing Choice Voucher Program has grown to become the USA's primary strategy for providing safe, decent, and affordable housing. Annually serving more than 2 million low-income households, the program is designed to help low-income households afford private market rental housing. The program also allows for the “portability” of vouchers nationally between housing authority jurisdictions. Both features aim to mitigate the effects of concentrated poverty. Research on the Moving to Opportunity Program and the Gautreaux consent decree have produced data confirming that residential mobility can at times lead to positive opportunities for assisted households. This past research has been conducted on specific programs occurring outside of the general Housing Choice Voucher Program framework and has focused on household-level outcomes, paying little attention to the ways in which program administration may affect outcomes for voucher households. This article aims to understand voucher portability from the perspective of housing authority executive directors and program administrators, in order to better understand how program administration impacts the types of household outcomes observed in prior research. The results reveal that housing authority administrative practices and inter-housing authority relationships play a significant role in shaping the types of outcomes realized by porting voucher households. These findings suggest several changes to program administrative design and policy that may improve support for voucher households as they make portability moves.     

Struggling to stay out of high-poverty neighborhoods: housing choice and locations in moving to opportunity's first decade

Improving locational outcomes emerged as a major policy hope for the nation's largest low-income housing program over the past two decades, but a host of supply and demand-side barriers confront rental voucher users, leading to heated debate over the importance of choice versus constraint. In this context, we examine the Moving to Opportunity experiment's first decade, using a mixed-method approach.

MTO families faced major barriers in tightening markets, yet diverse housing trajectories emerged, reflecting variation in: (a) willingness to trade location – in particular, safety and avoidance of “ghetto” behavior – to get larger, better housing units after initial relocation; (b) the distribution of neighborhood types in different metro areas; and (c) circumstances that produced many involuntary moves. Access to social networks or services “left behind” in poorer neighborhoods seldom drove moving decisions. Numerous moves were brokered by rental agents who provided shortcuts to willing landlords but thereby steered participants to particular neighborhoods.     

The Fair Housing Act Today: Current Context and Challenges at 50

ABSTRACT

As is true for most legislation, the Fair Housing Act (FHA) was a product of its time; the legislation’s content, and even passage, was formed by dominant issues in housing markets and the country at that time. The context shaped the goals of the FHA and the strategies and tools employed under its auspices. Fifty years after the passage of the FHA, much of that context has changed. This commentary argues that changes in the context not only raise new fair housing challenges and create new gaps in our knowledge, but also may necessitate a fresh look at fair housing strategies and tools if they are to be effective at achieving the goals of the act. This commentary begins with a brief background on the FHA itself, the social context at the time of its writing, and its main goals. Next it lays out a few key changes in housing markets relevant for fair housing, highlighting challenges they may create and where research could be of greatest value. It then considers challenges arising from threats to two specific U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) fair housing rules seen by many as critical fair housing tools. The commentary ends with two examples of a “refresh,” where current context has shaped, or reshaped, a strategy to address today’s fair housing challenges.     

The impact of assisted housing developments on concentrated poverty

Abstract

The common wisdom is that assisted housing developments have both a direct and an indirect impact on concentrated poverty. The indirect effects are based on the notion that the negative stereotypes associated with such developments spill over into the surrounding neighborhoods, causing people who can leave to do so or avoid the neighborhood and leaving behind only the more disadvantaged segments of society. An increase in concentrated poverty in the neighborhood surrounding the development results. Prior studies, relying on aggregated data, are consistent with this thesis. The overwhelming majority of the statistical models in my study, however, found these relationships to be spurious. Once individual and macrolevel characteristics were controlled for, the relationships disappeared.

These findings imply that assisted housing developments will not typically contribute to concentration of poverty in surrounding neighborhoods and suggest that much of the negative reaction to assisted housing developments is unwarranted.     

Quality of Life,Transportation Costs,and Federal Housing Assistance: Leveling the Playing Field

Abstract

Federal housing subsidies are allocated without regard to spatial differences in the cost of living or quality of life. In this article, we calculate housing subsidy payments for participants in the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program and demonstrate that these subsidies are significantly related to metropolitan quality-of-life differentials. We then estimate amenity-adjusted subsidies and compare these estimates with data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Location Affordability Portal. Our analysis yields three insights regarding the relationship between federal housing assistance payments (HAP), metropolitan quality-of-life differentials, and transportation cost burdens. First, HCV HAP show a strong inverse correlation with household transportation expenditures, and this is particularly pronounced for low-income households. Thus, HAP do not address location affordability because those living in high-transportation cost metropolitan areas receive the lowest housing subsidies. Second, we present evidence that HAP are positively related to metropolitan quality-of-life differentials. This suggests that high-amenity metropolitan areas also tend to be the most affordable from a transportation cost perspective. Third, our proposed amenity-adjusted HAP strongly reduce the inverse relationship between HAP and transportation cost burdens.     

The low income housing tax credit and racial segregation

This paper addresses a critical but almost unexamined aspect of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program – whether its use (and in particular, the siting of developments in high-poverty/high-minority neighborhoods), is associated with increased racial segregation in the metropolitan area. Using data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Census, supplemented with data on the racial composition of LIHTC tenants in three states, we examine three potential channels through which the LIHTC could affect segregation: where LIHTC units are built relative to where other low income households live, who lives in these tax credit developments, and changes in neighborhood racial composition in neighborhoods that receive tax credit projects. The evidence on each of these channels suggests that LIHTC projects do not contribute to increased segregation, even those in high poverty neighborhoods. We find that increases in the use of tax credits are associated with declines in racial segregation at the metropolitan level.     

Local response to federal changes in the housing voucher program: A case study of intraregional cooperation

Abstract

The desire to increase residential choice for Section 8 voucher clients resulted in the adoption of portability by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Portability allows voucher holders to move between the jurisdictions of local housing authorities (HAs). InterHA cooperation could ease the administrative and financial burdens imposed by portability and improve service to voucher recipients. However, voluntary regional cooperation is rare.

This article presents a case study of a successful, voluntary, intraregional cooperative agreement among HAs. Theoretical and empirical analyses suggest that a cooperative agreement is more likely to develop voluntarily if two conditions are present: rational self‐interest and shared norms and trust among the managers. Agreements can ease the burdens associated with portability, but it is important for the parties to regularly assess implementation issues to ensure the agreement's continuing effectiveness. The article concludes with policy implications based on the findings from this research.     

The impact of neighbors who use section 8 certificates on property values

Abstract

This article statistically examines the sale prices of single‐family homes surrounding Section 8 sites first occupied between 1991 and 1995 in Baltimore County. If only a few Section 8 sites were located within 500 feet, we found a strong positive impact on property values in higher‐valued, real‐appreciation, predominantly white census tracts. However, in low‐valued or moderately valued census tracts experiencing real declines in values since 1990, Section 8 sites and units located in high densities had a substantial adverse effect on prices within 2,000 feet, with the effect attenuated past 500 feet. Focus groups with homeowners revealed that the negative impact was based on the units’ imperfect correlation with badly managed and maintained properties.

We argue that policies should be devised to direct Section 8 households away from vulnerable neighborhoods, better regulate managers of Section 8 apartments, and more stringently screen and monitor Section 8 households.     

The impact of RTC dispositions on local housing and real estate markets

Abstract

This article examines the critical question of whether disposition activity of the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) will disrupt local real estate markets by driving values down and encouraging additional defaults. The question is approached by identifying key characteristics of local economies and real estate markets that could be associated with adverse market responses and then examining 12 individual metropolitan areas in this context. A survey of metropolitan areas with high RTC concentrations finds varying potential for adverse impact. Detailed case studies in three metropolitan areas—Dallas, Denver, and Oklahoma City—find the potential to vary widely by property type, quality level, and geographic location. By and large, commercial markets are expected to be less affected because of (1) the already depressed condition of most markets, (2) market segmentation that would insulate investment grade submarkets, (3) capitalization of expectations about disposition, and (4) political constraints on the rate of RTC activity. However, the geographic concentration of inventory that is combined with potential tipping dynamics associated with neighborhood change could render certain affordable housing markets vulnerable to adverse market responses. Policy recommendations to mitigate such impacts are suggested.     

The Cartography of Opportunity: Spatial Data Science for Equitable Urban Policy

As evidence of the contextual effects of place upon individual outcomes has become increasingly solid over time, so too have urban policies and programs designed to connect underserved people with access to spatial opportunity. To this end, many attempts have been made to quantify the geography of opportunity and quite literally plot it on a map by combining evidence from studies on neighborhood effects with spatial data resources and geographic information systems (GIS) technology. Recently, these opportunity maps have not only become increasingly common but their preparation has been encouraged and facilitated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A closer look at the foundations and methods that underlie these exercises offers important lessons I examine the practice of opportunity mapping from both theoretical and methodological perspectives, highlighting several weaknesses of the common methods. Following this, I outline a theoretical framework based on Galster’s categorization of the mechanisms of neighborhood effects. Using data from the Baltimore metropolitan region, I use confirmatory factor analysis to specify a measurement model that verifies the validity of the proposed theoretical framework. The model provides estimates of four latent variables conceived as the essential dimensions of spatial opportunity: social-interactive, environmental, geographic, and institutional. Finally, I develop a neighborhood typology using unsupervised machine learning applied to the four dimensions of opportunity. Results suggest that opportunity mapping can be improved substantially through a better connection to the empirical literature on neighborhood effects, a multivariate statistical framework, and more direct relevance to public policy interventions.     

The Africans

A virtual consensus exists that Catholics fare worse than Protestants in the N. Ireland labour market. The political implications of this imbalance have been extensive since the present bloody conflict has its origins in a civil rights campaign that demanded an end to Catholic economic and social disadvantage. A range of contrasting studies has attempted to explain the cause of unequal performance between Catholies and and Protestants in employment. This paper surveys the robustness of these investigations which are categorized under: (1) political explanations; (2) quasi-human capital studies; and (3) econometric and statistical assessments. It is suggested that each category has some merits, but none on its own is convincing. The paper concludes that we should adopt an eclectic apparoach to explaining the better employment position of protestants.     

Projecting the impact of new sentencing laws on prison populations

Recent efforts at sentencing reform have led to the consideration or enactment of new sentencing structures, including mandatory-minimum sentences, flat-time sentences, and sentencing guidelines. There is a clear need for estimates of the impacts that new sentencing laws would have on sentencing practice and on corrections programs, both as an informational input during legislative debate and as a basis for planning once a particular law is enacted. This study develops a methodology for estimating the impacts of alternative sentencing policies on prison populations. The methodology is demonstrated with an estimation of the impacts on the Pennsylvania state prison system of a mandatory-minimum sentencing bill which was considered by the Pennsylvania legislature.This research was supported in part by SPC No. 568788 funded by the Pennsylvania Governor's Justice Commission. The assistance of the Governor's Justice Commission, the Pennsylvania Association of Probation, Parole, and Correction, the Pennsylvania Bureau of Correction, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and the Subcommittee on Crime and Correction of the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee in providing data and information is gratefully acknowledged. Appreciation is also due to Alfred Blumstein and Patrick Larkey for providing helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

Potential impact on birth rates of reforms in laws governing contraceptive marketing

This article attempts to estimate the potential impact on birth rates of relaxing various legal restrictions on the marketing of contraceptives and to identify countries offering particular potential for such policies. The approach is through a quasi-experimental cross-sectional analysis of various configurations of laws in 82 countries. Results indicate that relaxation of a complex of interrelated restrictions offers the potential to lower birth rates and hence population growth by a full percentage point. The estimates are made in context of an analysis of covariance in which other key determinants of birth rates (measures of economic, demographic and health status) are also considered. While the cross-sectional design does not allow assessment of time frame for the impact of such changes, some guidance is available from the experience of two countries.     

The impact of constitutional structures and collective and competitive veto points on income inequality in industrialized democracies

Abstract This paper presents the first systematic, empirical examination of the impact of constitutional structures on income inequality among eighteen OECD countries. Our pooled time series/cross–sectional panel analysis (n = 18, t = 2) reveals that consensual political institutions are systematically related to lower income inequalities while the reverse is true for majoritarian political institutions. We also make a crucial distinction between 'collective' and 'competitive' veto points. Our multiple regression results provide strong evidence that collective veto points depress income inequalities while competitive veto points tend to widen the inequality of incomes. Thus, some institutional veto points have constraining effects on policy while others have 'enabling' effects.     

Barriers to prosperity: the harmful impact of entry regulations on income inequality

Public Choice - Entry regulations, including fees, permits and licenses, can make it prohibitively difficult for low-income individuals to establish footholds in many industries, even at the...     

The Politics of Policy Design and Implementation: A Comparative Study of Two Belgian Service Voucher Programs

Abstract

When two policy programs, identical in many important respects, are implemented in the same national context, similar program results would be expected. If this is not the case, an explanation is needed. In this article two Belgian voucher programs are compared: one for household services and one for childcare services. The first program was termed a success while the latter was abandoned after disappointing results. Ideological differences between policy makers at cabinet level are identified as the most crucial factor explaining the contrasting results of the two programs. The failure of the childcare voucher scheme was due to its deeply flawed policy program design, particularly with respect to the implementing structure as well as the needs and demands of the designated target group. This comparative study confirms the usefulness and validity of two well-known theoretical constructs: an integrated implementation model and related statutory coherence thesis. The necessity of more attention to the potential influence of higher-level political-institutional factors and the dynamic interaction between policy formulation/design and policy implementation is one important lesson for contemporary implementation research. Another is that policy instruments per se do not determine policy results. Their role can only be fruitfully analyzed and explained in the context where they are selected and applied.     

The economic impact of state restrictions on abortion: parental consent and notification laws and Medicaid funding restrictions.

State-legislative support for liberalized abortion policies, the availability of abortion providers, and actual abortion rates vary widely across states. This article uses national data to examine the impact of the following three major, enforceable state abortion restrictions as of 1988 on the access to and use of abortion services: state restrictions on Medicaid financing of abortions for low-income women (36 states), state requirements for parental consent or parental notification for minors to obtain abortions (11 states), and state restrictions on insurance coverage of abortion for public employees (8 states). The impact of state abortion restrictions is becoming an increasingly important policy issue as the number and types of restrictions which can be enforced in the US increase rapidly. The Supreme Court in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989) upheld a Missouri law banning abortions in public hospitals and the involvement of public employees in the performance of abortions; states via this ruling may also enforce mandatory testing for viability after a specified point in the pregnancy. The Supreme Court then in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992) effectively ruled that states can enforce a 24-hour waiting period and a state-prescribed talk on abortion for women seeking abortion. Analysis of the data found that there are significantly fewer hospitals, clinics, and private physicians' offices providing abortions in states with parental consent or notification laws. Moreover the rate of minors' abortions per 1000 teen pregnancies is 16% lower, and the rate of minors' abortions per 1000 women aged 15-19 is 25% lower in states with such laws compared to states without the laws. Data from abortion clinics and referral services in Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Rhode Island suggest that 20-55% of minors are going to court instead of informing their parents. 35% of minors who contacted a clinic in Massachusetts and 49% in Rhode Island went out of state for abortions. As for Medicaid restrictions, there are significantly fewer hospitals, clinics, and private physicians' offices providing abortions in states which restrict funding of abortions as compared to states which do not. State restrictions on insurance coverage of abortion for public employees do not appear to be associated with statistically significant differences in abortion rates or abortion availability.