Section 8 Housing Vouchers
Brian Harrington
EC 101-D Section 8 Housing vouchers provide low income families with alternative housing assistance. The program is regulated by the Federal Dept of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It is good that programs like this exist versus having rent ceilings put into place. If there were rent ceilings, assuming that they were very low, there would be a huge shortage on the supply of housing while there is also a huge demand. This would create a problem because people with little income would find it hard to locate housing at a price that is affordable to them, while it would also be very hard to produce new housing because of low rents yielding low profits.
Without housing subsidization programs such as the Section 8 Housing voucher program, it would be nearly impossible for low income families to find housing that they could afford. It would also be very difficult for new housing to be created due to the low generation of rent and the surplus of housing (i.e. lots of empty rooms with fewer renters willing to pay). Although if this were to occur, rent price would decline, in turn just hurting the economy and still leaving it hard to build new properties. Without programs like this, many people in America would be homeless and the economy would be hurting even more than it already is due to low income families finding it hard to locate and pay for affordable housing. From a cost and benefit perspective on the voucher program; the cost starts with the family receiving the voucher. They pay 30% of their gross income towards their monthly rent. The voucher pays the landlord for the unpaid rent balance, which is the total Fair Market Rent (FMR) minus the family contribution; this equals program cost. The family is required to find its own rental and Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) agency. This agency inspects the dwelling to be sure it meets Housing Quality Standards (this is a cost for program administrators) and executes a three part lease with
EC 101-D Section 8 Housing vouchers provide low income families with alternative housing assistance. The program is regulated by the Federal Dept of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It is good that programs like this exist versus having rent ceilings put into place. If there were rent ceilings, assuming that they were very low, there would be a huge shortage on the supply of housing while there is also a huge demand. This would create a problem because people with little income would find it hard to locate housing at a price that is affordable to them, while it would also be very hard to produce new housing because of low rents yielding low profits.
Without housing subsidization programs such as the Section 8 Housing voucher program, it would be nearly impossible for low income families to find housing that they could afford. It would also be very difficult for new housing to be created due to the low generation of rent and the surplus of housing (i.e. lots of empty rooms with fewer renters willing to pay). Although if this were to occur, rent price would decline, in turn just hurting the economy and still leaving it hard to build new properties. Without programs like this, many people in America would be homeless and the economy would be hurting even more than it already is due to low income families finding it hard to locate and pay for affordable housing. From a cost and benefit perspective on the voucher program; the cost starts with the family receiving the voucher. They pay 30% of their gross income towards their monthly rent. The voucher pays the landlord for the unpaid rent balance, which is the total Fair Market Rent (FMR) minus the family contribution; this equals program cost. The family is required to find its own rental and Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) agency. This agency inspects the dwelling to be sure it meets Housing Quality Standards (this is a cost for program administrators) and executes a three part lease with