The trend should serve as a "wake-up call" for housing policy, researchers say.
Families using federal housing vouchers are funneled to low-income, racially segregated neighborhoods even when affordable homes are available in "higher opportunity" areas, a new study shows.
Across the country, the Washington Post reports, "just 5 percent of metropolitan families using vouchers live in high-opportunity neighborhoods even though those areas account for 18 percent of all affordable rentals." And it's Black and Latino voucher holders who most consistently end up in neighborhoods that lack access to quality schools, jobs, and transit.
To address the barriers that keep aid recipients out of wealthier neighborhoods, researchers from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Poverty & Race Research Action Council recommend specific tweaks to local voucher programs: calculating aid to reflect prices in specific ZIP codes and offering greater subsidies for apartments in more expensive communities. They also note that while some jurisdictions have outlawed source-of-income discrimination, federal law does not require landlords to accept housing vouchers. The Trump administration has opposed recent attempts to move HUD toward these strategies.
Section 8 Not Welcome
More landlords are refusing Section 8 vouchers for housing, neither willing to deal with the federal bureaucracy nor to risk missing out on the peak windfall of an expansive rental market.
Research: Sprawl Linked to Poverty
Low-income families living in high-sprawl neighborhoods are limited in their access to education, jobs, and other amenities, often trapping them in a cycle of poverty.
Eight Ohio Towns Ban Source of Income Discrimination in Housing
The group doesn’t include Cleveland, where landlords can explicitly exclude housing voucher recipients from rental properties.
National Parks Layoffs Will Cause Communities to Lose Billions
Thousands of essential park workers were laid off this week, just before the busy spring break season.
Retro-silient?: America’s First “Eco-burb,” The Woodlands Turns 50
A master-planned community north of Houston offers lessons on green infrastructure and resilient design, but falls short of its founder’s lofty affordability and walkability goals.
Delivering for America Plan Will Downgrade Mail Service in at Least 49.5 Percent of Zip Codes
Republican and Democrat lawmakers criticize the plan for its disproportionate negative impact on rural communities.
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Balancing Bombs and Butterflies: How the National Guard Protects a Rare Species
The National Guard at Fort Indiantown Gap uses GIS technology and land management strategies to balance military training with conservation efforts, ensuring the survival of the rare eastern regal fritillary butterfly.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service