How to attract more landlords to the housing choice voucher program: a case study of landlord outreach efforts

Since 1980, the focus of American housing policy has shifted away from project-based to tenant-based subsidies, i.e. the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP). Yet many HCVP recipients have remained in high-poverty and high-minority areas of central cities. To improve the effectiveness of HCVP in expanding residential choices, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is encouraging local public housing authorities to utilize a variety of techniques to provide more opportunity for voucher recipients to move to low poverty areas including meetings with current or prospective owners, owners’ newsletters, owner fairs, program videos and direct contact with owners. Although there has been a considerable body of research on voucher recipients in the Gautreaux and Moving to Opportunity programs, two special housing voucher programs, there has been little research on the effectiveness of landlord outreach efforts as part of the regular HCVP. We therefore conducted a case study of landlord outreach efforts currently being implemented by the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority. We combined observation of landlord outreach events with semi-structured interviews to determine reasons why landlords do or do not participate, landlords’ perceptions on the extent to which HCVP addresses their concerns, what they take away from these events, and how outreach efforts might be improved. This case study indicates that there is considerable room for improvement in landlord outreach efforts by the housing authority. The policy implications for HUD as well as public housing authorities across the United States are discussed.     

The effect of market conditions on the housing outcomes of subsidized households: the case of the US voucher programme

Abstract

Since being created in the 1970s, housing vouchers have become the primary mode of federal housing support for low-income households in the US. The voucher programme was designed to provide recipients with the mobility needed to secure higher quality housing in neighbourhoods of their choice. Decades of analysis suggest that the programme has failed to produce the favourable outcomes envisioned by policymakers. To add to our understanding of the outcomes of this important federal programme, this paper seeks to underscore the importance of context-dependent policy analysis. In particular, this study analyses the impact of housing market conditions on the outcomes achieved by voucher recipients. Using neighbourhood and housing outcome data from the American Housing Survey, and median rent and rental market vacancy data, this paper demonstrates the important role that market conditions play in programme outcomes. The results from this study suggest that voucher recipients are successful at improving housing unit quality outcomes regardless of market conditions, but the ability to move to a better neighbourhood is a function of vacancy rates.     

Moving to Opportunity? An Examination of Housing Choice Vouchers on Urban Poverty Deconcentration in South Florida

The increase in socioeconomic disparity between households runs counter to federal housing goals to improve the prospects of the poor. One goal of the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, which provides rental assistance to low-income families, is the deconcentration of poverty. This study is a longitudinal analysis of the HCV program's deconcentration effectiveness in Broward County, Florida. The movement of HCV households before and after voucher assignment is examined. Spatial statistics reveal that HCV recipients are highly clustered in low opportunity areas both prior to and after receiving a voucher. Factors that significantly relate to the likelihood that a voucher recipient will or will not move to an area of higher opportunity are assessed. Results from an opportunity index derived from principal components analysis and an ordinary least squares regression model indicate that being non-Black, having a larger household, and originating from economically distressed areas with high poverty and unemployment relates more strongly to relocation to neighborhoods with greater opportunity.     

Using Hot-Spot Analysis to Study the Clustering of Section 8 Housing Voucher Families

This paper seeks to improve local policy makers' ability to monitor changes in the spatial distribution of Section 8 housing voucher recipients by combining hot-spot analysis with dot mapping and census tract analysis. All three methods were used to analyze the distribution of more than 6,000 Section 8 participants in Hamilton County, Ohio (Cincinnati). The hot-spot analysis identified three groupings of high density Section 8 housing voucher clusters (1) clusters: that were located in the center or at the edge of Cincinnati's black ghetto to the east of the industrial Mill Creek Valley, (2) clusters to the west of the Mill Creek Valley in areas that in recent years have begun to experience racial transition and (3) clusters related to suburban development funded by the federal government's Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. While the latter are located in middle-income census tracts, voucher recipients comprise a majority of the tenants. We recommend that planners and housing officials use hot-spot analysis in the future in conjunction with the more widely known dot mapping and census tract analysis techniques.     

Housing vouchers as a means of poverty deconcentration and race desegregation: Patterns and factors of voucher recipients’ spatial concentration in Cleveland

Housing Choice Voucher Program is the single largest housing subsidy program in the USA with the goal of poverty deconcentration and race desegregation. This study aims to identify the presence and locations of voucher holders’ spatial concentration, and to investigate the factors associated with the location outcomes of voucher recipients in Cleveland from 2005 to 2009. Hotspot analysis indicated that voucher holders have clustered together and their concentrations have changed during the five years. Over time, concentration patterns spread out from the central city to suburbs. Spatial concentrations were significantly different by race. Regression analysis identified several factors associated with voucher recipients’ concentration, including race, availability of affordable housing, poverty rates, vacancy rates, and accessibility to public transportation. The spatial error model estimation and Geographically Weighted Regression account for spatial autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity. Results from the study presented the limited potential of the voucher program since voucher holders are still clustered in specific neighborhoods, even though they tend to move in less poor neighborhoods over time.     

Housing First: Considering Components for Successful Resettlement of Homeless People with Multiple Needs

‘Housing First’ programmes in the US involve the provision of mainstream scatter sited permanent housing at the initial stage of support for homeless individuals with multiple needs. This is in contrast to dominant approaches (in the US and Europe) that assert the need for successful progress towards treatment goals (usually whilst living in temporary congregate accommodation) prior to resettlement. Evaluations of Housing First indicate, however, that even those considered farthest from being housed can, with help, successfully maintain a mainstream tenancy of their own. It is asserted here that one locally based agency managing both the housing and assertively providing holistic non time-limited support packages may be important factors in the success rate of Housing First programmes. However, a caveat is added—to robustly assess the effectiveness of Housing First (and homelessness policy per se) requires continued consideration as to what ‘success’ refers to in the resettlement of formerly homeless people.     

Housing allowances: still struggling to make ends meet

Housing allowances aim at providing adequate and affordable housing. A theoretical discussion and literature review show why it is challenging for housing allowances to actually shield households from financial hardship. Using National French Housing Survey data, an original application with a probit model with a double sample selection (being a tenant, and being eligible for means-tested allowances) follows. Estimation results show that housing allowances help to cope with some life events but that otherwise their recipients remain more exposed to housing financial hardship than their counterparts do. The gap between recipients and non-recipients is larger for the households with children than for those without despite the goal of horizontal equity. A nonlinear decomposition shows that the difference in probability between recipients and non-recipients is mostly explained by the endowment of characteristics in 2001 and by the return to risk in 2013.     

Tracking mobility in the housing choice voucher program: a household level examination in Florida,USA

Previous research on the housing choice voucher (HCV) program has focused on neighbourhoods where voucher holders reside at one point of time. Little is known about mobility of voucher households during their tenure in the program. Using an administrative dataset that spans 11 years for the state of Florida, this study evaluates how often voucher households move and their mobility outcomes, measured by the change of neighbourhood poverty. Findings reveal that HCV households moved frequently beginning in the early years of program participation. Between 2007 and 2013 there was a notable decrease of voucher presence in high-poverty areas. Regression analysis further suggests that rental housing market conditions are significantly associated with mobility outcomes. White, non-Hispanic households and those with higher incomes were more likely to move to lower poverty neighbourhoods, whereas disabled and formerly homeless households moved more frequently and were not as successful in accessing lower poverty areas.     

Residential Satisfaction Among Public Housing Residents Living in Social-Mix Housing Complexes: The Case of the Seoul Metropolitan Area,Korea

Abstract

This study asks how a social mix policy that mixes public housing with private housing in the same housing complex is associated with residential satisfaction among public housing residents in Korea. We also ask if mixture types between public and private housing make a difference in the residential satisfaction of public housing residents. By analyzing the 2011 Korea Housing Survey for Public Housing Residents, we find that living in the independent type that includes only public housing and the random-mix type that randomly mixes public housing with private housing in the same building is positively related to residential satisfaction among public housing residents. The empirical analysis also shows that the levels of social conflict among residents are the lowest in the random-mix type.     

借鉴日本公营住宅经验建立我国低收入家庭住房租金模型

廉租住房是我国继经济适用住房之后,政府推出的又一种政策性住房。其目的是为解决住房困难的低收入家庭居住问题。但从实际的运行情况看,尚存在诸多政策设计方面的问题。尤其在租金的制定方面过于简单,没有充分考虑如何运用经济手段调节廉租住房需求和相应的退出机制。本文在对日本公营住宅运作方法分析的基础上,提出我国在制定面向低收入家庭的住房租金时,应根据家庭收入对低收入家庭进一步细分,针对不同收入水平的低收入家庭采用不同的每平方米租金,并根据住房面积的变化采用递进式每平方米租金原则,同时给出面向低收入家庭的住房租金计算模型。随着家庭收入的增长,廉租住房租金逐渐提高,乃至接近甚至超过市场租金,通过经济手段使经济条件好转的家庭退出廉租住房系统。     

The Political Economy of Social Housing Reform—A Framework for Considering Decentralised Ownership, Management and Service Delivery in Australia

Several State Housing Authorities in Australia are currently examining models of devolved management and ownership of social housing stock and addressing reduced Commonwealth State Housing Agreement funding (or have already done so). These changes in the provision and mode of below-market accommodation are reflective of two broad trends: firstly, a greater reliance on market and not-for-profit provision of public services; and, secondly, a change in the role and mode of bureaucratic intervention at various levels of government. In this article we illustrate a framework for analysing these changes by focusing on the transfer of some 86 000 properties from the Glasgow City Council to the Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) in 2003 and also provide an interpretation of how the restructuring of social housing in the UK reflects the political economy of property rights, and the governance and incentive structure through which the restructuring of advanced economies is implemented. We conclude by briefly drawing implications from the British case for Australia. The analysis is conducted in a new institutional tradition that assesses property rights and the provision of social housing, and associated policy goals, under comparative institutional arrangements or governance structures. We argue that stock transfer in essence is a policy of delineating ownership of different attributes of the housing stock and that such a delineation is crucial to the functioning of the emerging governance structure and the ability of stakeholders to extract value from ownership. We draw on a series of interviews conducted by the authors as part of research into the 2003 GHA transfer. These interviews were conducted with policy makers and politicians (past and present), the regulator in Scotland, GHA staff and representatives of the community-based housing association sector in Glasgow.     

Quantifying the extent of space shortages: English dwellings

Lack of internal space is a problem in UK homes, and is often linked to a lack of space standards for housing in the UK. Although previous studies have examined new-build housing, this paper uses a new method to study 16 000 dwellings in the English Housing Survey (EHS) 2010 to examine existing housing and compare them with a modern space standard in an attempt to quantify the extent and magnitude of the problem. Dwellings in the survey were compared against a slightly modified version of the London Housing Design Guide 2010 internal space standard. It was found that between 21% and 55% of dwellings failed to meet the standard; and that flats and small terraced houses were most commonly below the standard. Dwellings were also frequently found to be under-occupied in comparison with the number of bedrooms. This research hypothesized that this was a result of the lack of space. To illustrate the use of this new analysis method, a recent change to the Housing Benefit system (colloquially known as the ‘Bedroom Tax’) has been considered. Households receiving Housing Benefit were more likely to be undersized, suggesting that the policy to withdraw housing benefits from these households may be misguided.     

HOUSING ALLOWANCES: A CRITICAL LOOK

The Reagan Administration would like to introduce housing allowances as the federal government's principal low-income housing program. The results of HUD's 10-year Experimental Housing Allowance Program suggest important structural limitations to this approach. Only a small portion of the housing allowance is spent on housing. An allowance is likely to least serve those who most need housing assistance. The stock of vacant units is inadequate to meet the demands of voucher recipients. Landlords are not likely to repair substandard units to meet this limited added buying power. And housing market discrimination inhibits mobility that might capture existing standard units. Additional evidence from the Section 8 existing housing and the public assistance programs suggest the limitations of the housing allowance approach. The true motivation for introducing housing allowances would appear to be a desire to withdraw the federal government from its traditional rote as housing provider.     

The lost history of urban renewal

Contrary to common understanding, the US government's policy of “urban renewal” was conceived as an alternative policy to slum clearance. Bitterly opposed to public housing, conservative housing‐industry trade associations sought a way to reform the urban redevelopment formula of clearance and public housing established in the Housing Act of 1949. In the early 1950s, the industry groups seized on citizens' neighborhood fix‐up efforts, particularly the Baltimore Plan, to conduct a national campaign to popularize code enforcement, rehabilitation, and private low‐cost housing development as methods to restore and stabilize city neighborhoods. At conferences organized by House and Home magazine and in the President's Advisory Committee on Government Housing Policies and Programs, the housing industry associations fashioned policies, now named “urban renewal,” which were codified in the Housing Act of 1954. But private industry's venture in urban policymaking failed in implementation. Home builders proved reluctant to participate in the new programs, public housing hung on, and hundreds of thousands of homes fell to the wrecking ball. As urban renewal became synonymous with slum clearance, neighborhoods continued to decline. In the end, ironically, housing rehabilitation reemerged as a populist tool for reviving the inner city.     

户籍制度改革政策下“农转非”居民住房保障体系研究——以重庆为例分析

分析"农转非"居民住房保障的意义后,分析了包括土地确权、地票交易、住房券流通和换购等为一体的住房保障体系,并提出完善该体系的政策意见,为完善重庆城市住房保障整体建设,增强城市竞争力提供了一定参考。     

论住房制度改革及住房保障的发展

通过系统的回顾我国住房制度改革的发展历史,以及对住房市场和住房保障两条发展路线的梳理,结合福利经济学的观点,提出住房保障是住房市场的必要补充,是对社会财富合理再分配的观点。提出了住房保障应当与住房市场相互协调,住房保障的规模要与经济发展水平、社会发展阶段相适应的相互发展关系。     

Beyond the Normative: Low Income Private Renters' Perspectives of Housing Affordability and Need for Housing Assistance

Housing need in Australia has typically been measured using a normative measure of the percentage of income spent on housing costs. However, this normative measure has tended not to correspond with the level of need as measured by the applications for housing assistance. This article reports on a research project commissioned by the Queensland Department of Housing in 2001, examining how low income private renters view their housing situation, with a particular focus on affordability. The Department wanted to better understand the reasons for why people apply for assistance, and how helpful normative affordability analyses are in describing and finding responses to housing need. The findings challenge the conventional wisdoms, dominant discourses and research standards which are commonly used and applied about affordability and housing need. In particular, the research raises serious questions about relying on quantitative analysis alone to appreciate the complexity of housing needs and the potential demand for assistance.     

On the Anti-social Behaviour Control in Hong Kong's Public Housing

In 2003, the Housing Department launched a marking scheme which aimed to improve environmental hygiene in public housing estates in Hong Kong. Although the scheme can potentially stop anti-social behaviour and other misconduct in public housing estates, the choice of public housing tenants as the sole target of control has not been clearly explained. Therefore, this study attempts to justify this administration-driven marking scheme. It appears that welfare conditionality cannot fully justify the scheme because public housing tenants are not the only recipients of housing welfare in Hong Kong. In addition, discriminating between public housing tenants and the most deprived is not defensible. More importantly, not all the offences prescribed in the marking scheme are socially undesirable. However, the substance of the scheme seems to match the ideologies of Chinese legalism quite well, and the scheme appears to be an initiative by the Hong Kong Housing Authority to strengthen its sovereignty over public housing resources in the city.     

Welfare or Work? Low-Income Working Households' Housing Consumption in the Private Rented Sector in England

This paper is concerned with issues of equity and efficiency in the Housing Benefit (HB) system in the private rented sector (PRS) in England. Using information from a survey of low- income working households (LIWH) and in-depth interviews with LIWH families, it addresses two policy-relevant questions. First, there are mixed findings on whether the current HB system enables HB recipients to consume more housing than is available to otherwise similar non-HB-recipient households in the PRS. HB rules on eligible property size appear not to unduly favour HB claimants compared with LIWH. LIWH, however, tend to pay a rent which is less than the maximum amount an HB recipient could receive. This is particularly true for LIWH families with children who are most likely to be living in properties smaller than allowed by HB regulations. Second, there is no evidence that the HB system incentivises LIWH to give up work or otherwise seek to become eligible for HB.     

Low-Income Housing Assistance Switches from Production to Vouchers

The traditional federal approach to housing assistance from the Depression through the 1970s was to subsidize the construction of new units for occupancy by low-income families. A competing approach, however, had been advocated by some since the 1930s and had gathered considerable support by the time HUD was created: Consumer vouchers could enable low-income families to afford housing selected from among dwellings provided by the private market. HUD's Rent Supplement Program and the Section 23 leased housing program under the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 set partial precedents for the voucher approach. The idea was extensively tested in the HUD-sponsored Experimental Housing Allowance Program (Bendick 1982; Struyk and Bendick 1981) and became operational in 1974 as the Existing Housing component of the Section 8 program.