The Choice to Discriminate: How Source of Income Discrimination Constrains Opportunity for Housing Choice Voucher Holders

Abstract

The “choice” in the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program signals the mobility offered to voucher holders. However, some landlords use source of income (SOI) discrimination to exclude voucher holders—limiting their locational choices. We propose several factors likely to influence this landlord strategy including, market competitiveness, stereotypes, and racial discrimination. We examine the prevalence of express SOI discrimination and the effectiveness of SOI antidiscrimination laws. We utilize a novel dataset of 1,107,110 rental listings from the Craigslist pages of 77 mid-sized US cities. We find significant amounts of express SOI discrimination, even where there are SOI antidiscrimination laws. Using multilevel models, we find that landlords are more likely to expressly discriminate in lower-opportunity neighborhoods and when they own market-competitive units. We also find that these factors are moderated by the concentration of voucher holders. These findings underscore how landlord strategies can combine to undermine the choice afforded to voucher holders.