Experimental Housing Allowance Program: An Update of Sec. III of the General Design Report. Housing Assistance Supply Experiment

摘要

This document is a revision of Section III of Rand's General Design Report (1973) governing eligibility and amounts of assistance offered to individual households participating in HUD's Experimental Housing Allowance Program, a program providing direct cash assistance to low - income families to upgrade their living standards. This updated report explains program administration and funding and provides estimates of program size and cost in each of two experimental sites, Brown County, Wis., and St. Joseph County, Ind. The basic principle of eligibility is that assistance should be available to all households whose income from other sources does not enable them to afford the market price of housing that meets a specified standard of adequacy. According to the income limit formula, the maximum annual adjusted income for an eligible household with a designated number of persons equals the standard annual cost of housing meeting specified quality and size standards minus $480. The size of the allowance will be calculated using a formula that recognizes differences in housing needs and other consumption requirements. The program is designed to fit into the existing system of public assistance programs. Actual program payments begin only when enrollees show that their housing meets certain standards. Once it is approved and funded by Congress, the allowance program will be a permanent feature of local housing markets. This would influence allowance - eligibles to stay in their neighborhoods and housing service suppliers to commit themselves to capital improvements and long - termsinvestments. Program administration would be the responsibility of nonprofitccorporations at each site (Housing Allowance Offices) and funding would be made through local housing authorities. Estimates of potential program size and allowance costs are calculated for the two sites and tabular data are provided.