Housing Choice Voucher Location Patterns a Decade Later |
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| Authors: | Kirk McClure Alex F. Schwartz Lydia B. Taghavi |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Urban Planning, University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA;2. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, The New School, New York, NY, USA;3. Office of Policy Development and Research, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, DC, USA |
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| Abstract: | In 2003, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) prepared a study of the location patterns of the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. This study became an important baseline for the evaluation of the HCV program and its ability to serve the goal of poverty deconcentration. The study examined the ability of HCV households in the 50 largest metropolitan areas to make entry to a broad array of neighborhoods and to locate in high-opportunity neighborhoods with low levels of poverty. New data from HUD and the American Community Survey permit the study to be replicated. We find that vouchers continue to consume only a small portion of the housing stock, with relatively small amounts of spatial concentration. Unfortunately, only about one in five voucher households locate in low-poverty neighborhoods, and this share is rising only very slowly. If the nation wants to pursue poverty deconcentration through the HCV program, we cannot rely on the program, as it is now structured, to accomplish this goal. Additional incentives and constraints will be needed, similar to those that were part of the Gautreaux and Moving to Opportunity programs. |
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| Keywords: | Housing Choice Voucher program poverty deconcentration mobility |
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