Using Hot-Spot Analysis to Study the Clustering of Section 8 Housing Voucher Families

Abstract

This paper seeks to improve local policy makers' ability to monitor changes in the spatial distribution of Section 8 housing voucher recipients by combining hot-spot analysis with dot mapping and census tract analysis. All three methods were used to analyze the distribution of more than 6,000 Section 8 participants in Hamilton County, Ohio (Cincinnati). The hot-spot analysis identified three groupings of high density Section 8 housing voucher clusters (1) clusters: that were located in the center or at the edge of Cincinnati's black ghetto to the east of the industrial Mill Creek Valley, (2) clusters to the west of the Mill Creek Valley in areas that in recent years have begun to experience racial transition and (3) clusters related to suburban development funded by the federal government's Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. While the latter are located in middle-income census tracts, voucher recipients comprise a majority of the tenants. We recommend that planners and housing officials use hot-spot analysis in the future in conjunction with the more widely known dot mapping and census tract analysis techniques.