HUD Reviews Section 8 Successes and Challenges

This year is the 30th anniversary of the creation of tenant-based rental housing assistance. From its beginnings in the Experimental Housing Allowance Program in 1970, the history of tenant-based housing subsidies for low-income renters has been characterized by growth, refinement, and responsiveness in meeting the needs of low-income families and individuals.

An upcoming report by HUD, Section 8 Tenant-Based Housing Assistance: A Look Back After 30 Years, examines the history of the tenant-based program, considers its numerous accomplishments, and discusses changes made to improve and strengthen the program.

The report provides a history of the program, beginning with the Experimental Housing Allowance Program and including creation of the housing certificate program in 1974, establishment of the voucher program in 1983, and the merger of the certificate and voucher programs under the Public Housing Reform Act of 1998.

Today's Section 8 tenant-based program serves 1.4 million families. Sixty-four percent are families with children, 15 percent are elderly families or individuals, and 13 percent are persons with disabilities. As the program has grown it has gained acceptance as an appropriate method for providing housing assistance to very low-income families. The report highlights the program design elements that make it attractive to both residents and PHAs. These elements include residential choice and mobility, flexible subsidy scheme, local payment standards, local rent reasonableness, flexible fee structure, and selection and occupancy policies.

Section 8 Tenant-Based Housing Assistance assesses program performance including the success rates of voucher holders in finding appropriate housing. The report addresses various policy issues surrounding Section 8 including whether the use of tenant-based assistance to deconcentrate low-income families is beneficial to residents, potential or perceived clustering of families and the impact on neighborhoods, and whether a neighborhood's problems could be caused or exacerbated by the way the program is operated.

Research to date shows strong evidence that Section 8 has been successful in providing voucher holders with increased mobility. A concern has been raised that tenant-based assistance results in "horizontal poverty," or the clustering of large numbers of Section 8 recipients in low-income neighborhoods where their living conditions are no better than those in public housing. Research does not indicate that this is the case but instead shows that Section 8 recipients compare well with all-rental households.

The program's design features can help prevent concentration of Section 8 recipients in particular neighborhoods. Residential choice and mobility mean that a family may choose to move to a low-poverty neighborhood or to an area of low minority concentration. Flexibility in subsidy determination helps to maximize participant choice by ensuring that if rents are higher in these neighborhoods of low concentration, the program will be able to help recipients move there. Tenant selection and occupancy policies help to avoid potential problem tenants or to respond to issues when they occur.

Section 8 assistance has proven to be both effective and cost efficient. It provides families choice in where they live and in how much they pay in rent. It is administratively less burdensome for public housing authorities (PHAs) who do not have direct management responsibility for the units occupied by Section 8 recipients. More people can be served because providing tenant-based assistance is less costly than constructing and operating heavily subsidized assisted housing.

The report concludes with a discussion of the Section 8 program's future. It notes operational areas and issues that HUD plans to address in order to continue the program's success, including stronger Section 8 program monitoring and enforcement and provision of assistance to PHAs and to help them improve their local programs. The report includes an appendix with ongoing HUD Section 8 research and a list of HUD programs that encourage mobility and deconcentration.

Section 8 Tenant-Based Housing Assistance: A Look Back After 30 Years is available for $5 from HUD USER. Use the order form.

New Report Released Section 8 Mobility and Neighborhood Health: Emerging Issues and Policy Challenges This report presents the state of current knowledge and debate on the issue of Section 8 mobility and neighborhood health based on both the existing research and a discussion at an October 26, 1999, symposium on the issues. It groups the challenges that confront today's Section 8 program into three broad categories: Concerns about the impact of Section 8 on neighborhoods. Possible causes of geographic clustering among Section 8 recipients. Special issues posed by the relocation of public housing residents. For each category, the report presents competing claims about how and why Section 8 might be affecting the well-being of neighborhoods, summarizes research evidence to assess these claims, and discusses a range of possible policy responses, from minor programmatic adjustments to more radical reform. Each section also offers an agenda of priority research needed to further inform the policy debate on Section 8 mobility and neighborhood health. The report concludes with a summary of both programmatic options and overall research priorities. Section 8 Mobility and Neighborhood Health was produced by The Urban Institute with support from HUD and The MacArthur Foundation. For additional information on Section 8 Mobility and Neighborhood Health contact: The Urban Institute Phone: (202) 833–7200    Fax: (202) 429–0687 http://www.urban.org