Section 8 housing not so affordable once transportation costs are counted, study says, By Brandon Formby, February 19, 2016, Dallas Morning News: “More than two-thirds of supposed affordable housing units in the Dallas area aren’t really that low-cost once transportation expenses are figured in, according to a new study co-authored by a University of Texas at Arlington professor. The federal measure of a housing unit’s affordability solely looks at whether or not the home’s cost is at or below 30 percent of the residents’ gross income. That threshold is a key part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s section 8 housing vouchers…”
Tag: Section 8
Section 8 Housing – St. Louis, MO
St. Louis passes bills to reduce Section 8 concentration in poor neighborhoods, By Walker Moskop, February 26, 2015, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “The Section 8 housing voucher program is designed to avoid the challenges of concentrated poverty typically associated with traditional public housing. Tenants receive rent subsidy vouchers from a local housing authority and can redeem them anywhere landlords accept them, so long as properties meet certain standards. In the end, though, most voucher recipients in St. Louis still end up clustered in lower-income communities. In an attempt to alleviate that concentration, St. Louis passed two measures last week aimed at making it easier for landlords to participate in the program while also banning the practice of rejecting tenants because they have vouchers…”
Section 8 Housing – Oregon
Locked out: Some landlords still turn away Section 8 tenants despite a new anti-discrimination law, By Bennett Hall, October 12, 2014, Corvallis Gazette-Times: “Elizabeth Prevish knew it could be tough to find a house to rent in Corvallis, but she had no idea just how hard it would be when she decided to relocate from Redmond in May. A single mom, Prevish has two sons, ages 3 and 13. The older boy struggles with a serious emotional disorder, and Prevish was thrilled when she got him placed in the Children’s Farm Home for inpatient treatment in January. After months of making the three-hour drive across the mountains to visit her son, she got approval to transfer her federal housing benefits from Deschutes County to the mid-valley — but ran into a brick wall when she tried to use them in Corvallis. So far, she says, half a dozen local landlords have refused to accept her Section 8 voucher — even though such discrimination is illegal under Oregon fair housing laws…”