Evaluation of Success Rates in Housing Assistance Programs Using the Existing Housing Stock: Implications for the Housing Payment Certificate Program from the Section 8 Existing Housing Program

摘要

The experiences of households entering the Section 8 Existing Housing program are used to estimate the implications of the proposed Housing Payment Certificate program. The study focuses on success rates of Certificate Holders -- or those who have applied for, been selected by, and met the program's standards. Black Certificate Holders, large families, and Certificate Holders in poor quality preprogram housing had low success rates, while elderly Certificate Holders and households paying high fractions of their income for rent in their preprogram situation had high success rates. These demographic differences in success rates are explained by housing expenditures, geographic factors, and actions taken by administering agencies. Success rates are also related to agency interpretation and application of housing quality requirements. The Housing Payment Certificate program's primary new feature would involve changing household payments from a fixed amount based on income to a fixed amount based on housing costs less 30 percent of household income, thus not tying the payment to actual rent. For this sample, the effect on success rates of lifting the rent ceiling would be slight, primarily because agency discretion in applying the ceilings softens their impact. Footnotes, tables, six references, and equations are included. Additional data are appended. (Author abstract modified).