Volume 15, Issue 4

2004

 

We argue that Section 8 low-income rental assistance—now called the Housing Choice Voucher Program—needs to be restructured and integrated with the other elements of the federal safety net for low-income households. Since the program was introduced in 1974, the quality of the nation’s housing stock has continued to improve, to the point that only a very small percentage of it is severely inadequate. Yet low-income households continue to face problems such as affordability, neighborhood decline, limited access to economic opportunity, and involuntary mobility.

 

While the Section 8 program has partially addressed some of these problems, it has a number of shortcomings, primarily the fact that it does not materially improve housing conditions for most recipients. Instead, it is little more than a poorly disguised income supplement. Housing vouchers should be directly integrated into the federal safety net as an entitlement to households that qualify for assistance.