The Spatial Concentration of Subsidized Housing - Poverty & Race ...

Concentration of Tenant-Based Subsidized Housing (Vouchers)Housing vouchers have increasingly become a significant percentage of allfederally subsidized housing units increasing from 1.35 million units to 1.50 millionunits (11 percent increase) from 1993 to 2000 at a time when public housing unitsdeclined by 22 percent. Housing vouchers were also used during this period forvarious mobility programs and HOPE VI relocations. A number of studies ofvouchers were conducted to determine if vouchers were indeed effective atdeconcentrating housing and poverty. Since these studies typically track recipients ofsubsidized housing they are also useful in geographic concentration studies becausethey capture the geographic clustering of units. These studies have used the mostrecent data available to study patterns of dispersion and concentration of subsidizedhousing. Results indicate greater movement to lower poverty neighborhoods but themovement was minimal given the size of the subsidized housing stock and there wasvirtually no lessening of racial and ethnic segregation.Kingsley, Johnson and Pettit (2003) studied relocation in the HOPE VIprogram in 31 MSA’s. They found that the number of HOPE VI relocation voucherswas small enough not to impact the location pattern of the overall voucher program (p.441). Clustering was found in some cases but was not the predominant pattern.Clusters were more likely in tracts with middle to high poverty rates and high minorityconcentration (p.443). The authors conclude that “the numbers alone cannot tell uswhether the degree of clustering we have observed in a particular city is problematic or25