- Ingrid Gould Ellen, Katherine O’Regan, and Sarah Strochak
- September 2024
- Focus-on-Poverty-401b
- Link to Focus-on-Poverty-40-1b (PDF)
- Link to Focus-on-Poverty-Classroom-Supplement-40-1 (PDF)
Ingrid Gould Ellen, Katherine O’Regan, and Sarah Strochak offer up-to-date insights on housing voucher lease-up rates. While housing vouchers have the potential to assist renters with low incomes in their search for stable housing, there has been little recent evaluation of the variables for successful leasing among voucher recipients. The authors introduce the topic and offer potential solutions to common barriers including extended search times, place-based rent ceilings, and greater source-of-income protections and enforcement.
Takeaways
- Housing choice vouchers provide significant benefits to the low-income households who successfully use them, yet nearly 40% of recipients fail to lease homes with their vouchers.
- Voucher lease-up rates are lower for Black and Hispanic renters and their search times are longer.
- Potential policy interventions include extending search times, setting neighborhood-based rent ceilings, and enacting and enforcing source-of-income protections.
Categories
Housing, Housing Assistance, Housing Market, Inequality & Mobility, Neighborhood Effects, Place, Racial/Ethnic Inequality
Tags
Administrative Data, Housing Vouchers/Section 8, National, Quantitative Research, Urban