housing vouchers

In 2019, Los Angeles passed an ordinance banning discrimination against Section 8 voucher holders. But it has never sued to enforce the protection.

Landmark lawsuits in D.C., New York, and California make source of income discrimination risky for landlords. 

A program to stabilize residents whose subsidized housing is disrupted has also been used to support other highly vulnerable residents, but those uses are a matter of controversy.

Because their programs provide the most deeply affordable housing in the country, public housing authorities should be both supported in improving fair housing outcomes and held to account when they fall short.

Are policy changes enough to address the housing problems we face?

“Fair market rents” are set by HUD and used to determine how much federal assistance programs will pay toward rent. But with rental costs rising so rapidly, they aren’t keeping up.

A: So far, researchers haven’t found that an increase in vouchers by itself causes rents to rise.

Rather than continue to find ways to make Section 8 work better, some affordable housing and tenant advocates argue the federal government should instead invest heavily in addressing the affordable housing shortage at its root.

If Congress gave the Housing Choice Voucher program enough money to serve every income-eligible applicant, what other reforms would be needed so every voucher recipient could find a decent home in a suitable area?

President Biden promised to expand the Housing Choice Voucher program so that everyone who qualifies for a voucher gets one. What exactly would that change entail, and how long could it be before we see it happen?

In the third installment of Shelterforce articles of old, we look back at what’s been happening with lawsuits against banks that allegedly failed to maintain properties they own in predominantly Black and Latinx neighborhoods, Medicaid money for housing, community developers elected to office, and vouchers for foster care youth.

In the second installment of updates to Shelterforce articles of old, we check in on how well some of the recommendations, predictions, and worries about rent control, rental assistance, and universal vouchers have aged.