Rent Subsidies and the Elderly

Abstract

This paper brings together the relatively meager and widely dispersed findings that apply to how the elderly would fair if a rent voucher program were to become the single government housing subsidy to households of low and moderate income. The paper begins by reviewing the findings that apply to the elderly from the recent Experimental Housing Allowance Program (EHAP), and then relates these EHAP fingings to findings on housing needs of various types of elderly such as low income elderly, racial minority elderly and elderly with functional impairments. In theory, the great benefit of the rent vouchers to the elderly is the unique freedom in housing choice and location inherent in the program. However, the EHAP findings suggest that the more unique one's housing needs the less likely one will successfully negotiate the voucher process. This process requires the voucher recipient to find program eligible (minimum standard) housing. The very poor elderly, those susceptible to minority discrimination in the private market, and those in need of barrier free, security protected and support serviced housing, will have the hardest time searching for and findings housing toward which they can apply a rent voucher. At best the housing voucher concept would make sense as one among several housing subsidy options open to elderly recipients. If it became the only option many of the poorest, most disenfranchised elderly would find themselves without a housing subsidy.