Failing the Least Advantaged: An Unintended Consequence of Local Implementation of the Housing Choice Voucher Program

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although scholars have acknowledged that shrinking federal resources for low-income housing programs increase economic inequality across the U.S. society as a whole, the question of how the allocation of these resources affects inequality among the poor has received little attention. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study examines local administrative practices of distributing scarce housing resources and the potential redistributive effects of those choices. Analyses of administrative and qualitative data collected from local housing agencies suggest that local administrative practices of managing a waitlist disadvantage residentially unstable applicants. Juxtaposing this finding with results from the Survey of Income and Program Participation suggests that among those who are income-eligible for program participation, poorer individuals have a greater likelihood of experiencing residential instability, thus compounding their disadvantage in the competition for a housing voucher.