Housing Policy
The Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCV)
By Brittany Booth
Throughout American history, the government has struggled to help its citizens in need of food and decent shelter to attain those things. Its constant struggle to house the poor has led to the creation of a department within the federal government devoted entirely to developing policies meant to provide affordable housing for low-income families. This department is known as HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development). Through the years, many policies have been proposed and enacted but none have done as much for lowincome households as the voucher programs. Accounting for just over 40% of HUD’s budget in
2009, vouchers have proven themselves to be the largest and most effective demand-side housing subsidy to date. It currently assists at least 2.2 million households and continues to grow even as many project-based subsidies are seeing decreased participation. Unfortunately however, it does not do nearly enough. The following analysis will explore four major topics of interest: the origins of vouchers and how they have evolved over time, objectives and targets of the policy, the major interest groups and their positions and the overall effectiveness and impacts of the program.
Origin and Evolution of the Housing Choice Voucher Program
Policy makers began discussing the possibility of a rental voucher program as early as
1937, however, it could not gain the support needed at that time. The reasons it was dismissed can easily be explained by the economic climate. The federal government was desperate to help people in the years following the Great Depression. With homelessness at its highest point to date, the need for housing was unprecedented. Though vouchers were discussed as a
1
possible option, a housing shortage had policy makers looking to create jobs through the construction of new units in a supply-side approach.
The idea of rental vouchers was tabled until 1974
By Brittany Booth
Throughout American history, the government has struggled to help its citizens in need of food and decent shelter to attain those things. Its constant struggle to house the poor has led to the creation of a department within the federal government devoted entirely to developing policies meant to provide affordable housing for low-income families. This department is known as HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development). Through the years, many policies have been proposed and enacted but none have done as much for lowincome households as the voucher programs. Accounting for just over 40% of HUD’s budget in
2009, vouchers have proven themselves to be the largest and most effective demand-side housing subsidy to date. It currently assists at least 2.2 million households and continues to grow even as many project-based subsidies are seeing decreased participation. Unfortunately however, it does not do nearly enough. The following analysis will explore four major topics of interest: the origins of vouchers and how they have evolved over time, objectives and targets of the policy, the major interest groups and their positions and the overall effectiveness and impacts of the program.
Origin and Evolution of the Housing Choice Voucher Program
Policy makers began discussing the possibility of a rental voucher program as early as
1937, however, it could not gain the support needed at that time. The reasons it was dismissed can easily be explained by the economic climate. The federal government was desperate to help people in the years following the Great Depression. With homelessness at its highest point to date, the need for housing was unprecedented. Though vouchers were discussed as a
1
possible option, a housing shortage had policy makers looking to create jobs through the construction of new units in a supply-side approach.
The idea of rental vouchers was tabled until 1974