The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) is tasked with leading the federal effort to provide affordable housing. But a new study suggests that HUD’s Section 8 program may be creating unexpected problems for those seeking rental assistance.
According to a report published in the academic journal Housing Policy Debate, researchers from three universities—Florida Atlantic University, the University of Texas, Arlington, and the University of Utah—observed that HUD fails to factor in transportation costs as part of the expenses incurred by Section 8 recipients. The report cited a Consumer Expenditure Survey that found housing plus transportation costs consumed 43 percent of U.S. household incomes in 2011 and affirmed that transportation is unaffordable for all properties in 70 of the 322 metropolitan areas and divisions that supply Section 8 Multifamily rental assistance—including major metro areas such as Las Vegas, Orlando and Memphis.
“HUD does not factor transportation costs into how they measure affordability,” said Dr. John Renne, study co-author and associate professor at Florida Atlantic University. “Many low-income people on Section 8 are forced to live in inaccessible locations where they can find landlords willing to accept the vouchers, which are often far from their jobs or quality transit service to reach their jobs. Transportation costs, after housing, is the second biggest expense in the budgets of most American households, especially for those who live in suburban areas with poor transit connectivity.”
Complicating matters is the lack of public transportation options in many markets where Section 8 housing exists. The report noted that while Section 8 recipients in downtown Los Angeles had the lowest transportation costs—spending $1,988 or less than 3.5 percent of its household budget on transportation—the same household in a property in Wheeling, W.V.-Ohio County spent $10,349 or 28 percent of its household budget on transportation.
"Our research suggests that these particular HUD rental assistance programs, when they subsidize housing in sprawling auto-dependent areas, are not holistically affordable," said Renne. "It also suggests that HUD can provide more affordable units to low-income families by directing subsidies to better or more compact, walkable, and transit-served locations."
