Local Politics and Housing Vouchers

Author: Thomas Kamber

Dissertation School: City University of New York

Abstract:

Since the early 1980s, Section 8 vouchers have been the fastest growing federal program for providing housing assistance to the poor. Today vouchers serve well over one million households. Proponents of vouchers often contrast them to the direct provision of public housing, arguing that vouchers use market forces to allocate housing resources efficiently, promote tenant choice and mobility, and reduce bureaucratic burdens for recipients.

Nonetheless, the Section 8 Certificate and Voucher Program is implemented primarily at the local level and local housing authorities have substantial latitude in setting program guidelines for waiting list preferences, rent levels, and social service opportunities. The purpose of the current study is to examine the choices made by local authorities in two cities, to analyze how these cities have arrived at distinct means of implementing the program, and assess how and why policy outcomes may diverge from the objectives of proponents of the voucher approach. The study expects to illuminate the ways in which local political and institutional dynamics have affected the implementation of the voucher program.

A comparative case study methodology will be employed, relying primarily on qualitative research techniques. Cases have been carefully selected to highlight variation in dependent variables (tenant choice, flexibility and regional mobility) in relation to independent variables of government and agency structure and the organization of producer interests. In-depth interviews will be conducted with a sample of housing authority administrators, nonprofit advocacy organizations, executive agency actors, federal officials, and local news sources in each city. In addition, local housing authority policy documents and federal program audits will be examined. Finally, interview data will be supplemented with available quantitative data from HUD and other housing researchers relating to the spatial distribution of voucher households and the level of organization of local housing nonprofits.

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