Note: This story is part of a six-month investigation by USA TODAY-Southeast called "Segregated by Section 8," which followed public housing seekers and analyzed available data in new ways. Read more about the series here[1].
HOUSTON– Isabel Lopez[2] grew up in public housing in one of the poorest neighborhoods in this city and never went to college. She now spends her days working to move families with low incomes to areas where their children have better odds of escaping poverty.
Lopez tries to help people with Section 8 vouchers – a golden ticket that offers recipients government help paying their rent – leave impoverished and racially segregated neighborhoods[3] through a relatively new concept in housing policy.
Families in Houston who sign up with the nonprofit she leads are offered the chance to live in suburban areas with low poverty and enroll their children in schools that they otherwise could not reach.
NestQuest Houston, which she help found in 2017, rents homes directly from landlords and subleases them to voucher holders. For roughly 50 families, the organization provides financial assistance and counseling, and mediates disputes with landlords.
More in this series: Section 8 housing program reinforces a Jim Crow pattern in the South, data shows[4]
Lopez said the program offers Section 8 recipients the choice in housing they were promised but long denied.
“Our program gives them a chance they wouldn’t have in their neighborhoods,” said Lopez, who once worked for Houston’s public housing office. “People decide that, 'I want more for my kids.'”
Research shows that children who grow up in poor and racially segregated neighborhoods are more likely to be incarcerated and less likely to finish high school and go to college.
Federal officials created Section 8 nearly 50 years ago to help families with low incomes leave public housing and give them a chance to move to low-poverty neighborhoods and send their children to higher-performing schools.
Recipients put a portion of their income toward rent and the government pays the remainder. The idea is to keep senior citizens, the disabled and other vulnerable people from becoming homeless and let them preserve more money for food and basics.
But across the South, recipients remain concentrated in racially segregated and high poverty neighborhoods even as President Joe Biden promises to expand vouchers, found a USA TODAY Network investigation called “Segregated By Section 8.”
Segregated by Section 8: A federal program tries to house people. But it leaves many homeless and segregated in the Southeast.[5]
Lopez’s work and research in Seattle and other cities represents an ongoing effort to make the nation’s biggest rental assistance program more effective in improving lives.
In a city that lives with the threat of hurricanes, a significant portion of Section 8 voucher holders in Houston live in high-risk neighborhoods for flooding.
When recipients change addresses, nearly half move within 5 miles of their old home, even though Houston covers a land area that is about 670 square miles, larger than New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago, according to a 2019 study.
Vouchers don’t really give people options. People just try to find a decent place to live and no longer dream. The program falls short of its potential.
NestQuest raises private donations, forms partnerships with landlords in suburban areas and identifies families who need a place to live.
She said landlords frequently refuse to participate in Section 8, frustrated with an inspection process that can take 45 to 60 days. Lopez said her group works to streamline the process to save landlords time filling vacancies.
More in this series: Flaws in the Section 8 program leave poor people trapped in ‘monstrous, depressing places’[6]
Widely seen as a key tool to help the nation overcome a severe shortage of affordable housing worsened by economic damage from the coronavirus, Section 8 is a $22 billion per year program overseen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered by local public housing offices.
Recipients typically put 30% of their income toward rent and utilities while the federal government pays the remainder.
In some cities such as Seattle, local public housing officials offer families who receive Section 8 extra rent money to help them move to low-poverty neighborhoods.
Officials in Seattle devised plans around research pinpointing outcomes for children in different neighborhoods. Families with vouchers get more benefits for relocating to areas with better outcomes for children.
Stefanie DeLuca, a sociology professor at John Hopkins University, is part of a research team partnering with public housing agencies in Seattle and King County, Washington, to reduce barriers to housing for voucher holders.
DeLuca said their findings indicate neighborhoods can make a huge difference for kids and their parents.
The Creating Moves to Opportunity program offers counseling and financial assistance to voucher recipients throughout their housing search. Family navigators help voucher holders with budgeting and negotiating with landlords.
Researchers are still tracking how many families are moving to “high opportunity” neighborhoods and how they fare.
DeLuca said it is difficult for some families to effectively utilize Section 8 vouchers because they get as little as 60 days to find a home. Recipients who don’t sign a lease in that period can see their benefits terminated.
“If you are working three jobs, struggling with transportation and the landlords won’t call you back, you will run out of time” to find housing, so some people only search in areas they already know, DeLuca said.
The clock ticks: A dad fights sickness as he looks for housing. Can Section 8 find him an affordable home?[7]
Will Fischer, a senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said vouchers have reduced homelessness and housing instability.
But the federal government does not spend enough money to make the program fully effective.
“Research shows housing navigators help voucher holders find decent and safe housing, but the federal government doesn’t provide public housing agencies enough money to hire them nationwide,” Fischer said.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, more than one in five people who get a voucher do not sign a lease before their benefits expire, noted a report compiled by Inlivian, the city’s public housing agency.
A review of records from April 2019 to December 2019 show housing providers denied clients a lease 44% of the time based on the use of vouchers, the report says.
Research in Richmond, Virginia, Dallas, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and other cities also found a large swath of landlords refuse to accept vouchers, limiting where recipients can live even in cases where the government has agreed to give them more rent money. Studies show that even in cities with a law against source of income discrimination, landlords discriminated against people using vouchers.
In response, Inlivian has offered more enticements to landlords.
A. Fulton Meachem Jr., CEO and president of Inlivian, the public housing agency in Charlotte, said his agency has been responsive to landlord concerns. Meachem said his agency offers some landlords a sign-on bonus for participating in the program and up to $1,000 for damage caused by tenants. Inlivian also now conducts inspections every two years instead of annually, he said.
Meachem has lobbied for laws that would prohibit landlords from rejecting tenants solely because they would pay rent with vouchers.
“Discrimination on all levels is bad,” Meachem said. “You are locking people into a cycle of poverty.”
Kelly Patterson, a University of Buffalo professor who conducts research on urban development and racial segregation, says the voucher program has reinforced racially segregated housing patterns across the country.
She said laws prohibiting landlords from discriminating against voucher holders can be helpful, but extremely difficult to enforce.
Buffalo has a source of income law, but the city rarely enforces it, Patterson said.
“Cases filed with the city just sit there and they go nowhere,” she said. “Landlords can use other justifications for rejecting applicants. ... You have to offer strong incentives for developers, density bonuses, expedited permitting and inclusionary zoning.”
Isabel Lopez in Houston sees a future for creative solutions, maybe formalizing assistance that voucher holders need.
This year, she said, NestQuest Houston saw the first two children from its families graduate from high school.
One is going to college and the other is headed for training in medical care.
– Fred Clasen-Kelly is an award-winning enterprise and investigative reporter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is the Housing & Social Justice Ramifications reporter for USA TODAY Network-Southeast. Send story tips to fclasenkelly@gannett.com.
Reporting: Fred Clasen-Kelly
Visual journalism: Josh Morgan, Ariana Torrey, Mike Hensdill, Richard Burkhart
Editor: William Ramsey
Maps & Data: UNC-Charlotte’s Urban Institute[9] with Providence Adu and Katie Zager, USA TODAY Network’s Chris Amico
Digital production & development: Ryan Hildebrandt, Spencer Holladay
Fact-checking: Rachel Berry
Proofing: Donnie Fetter, Amy Dunn
Social media, engagement & promotion: Kara Edgerson, Zach Dennis and Lauren Young
References
- ^ here (www.newsleader.com)
- ^ Isabel Lopez (bit.ly)
- ^ racially segregated neighborhoods (bit.ly)
- ^ Section 8 housing program reinforces a Jim Crow pattern in the South, data shows (www.usatoday.com)
- ^ A federal program tries to house people. But it leaves many homeless and segregated in the Southeast. (www.usatoday.com)
- ^ Flaws in the Section 8 program leave poor people trapped in ‘monstrous, depressing places’ (www.usatoday.com)
- ^ A dad fights sickness as he looks for housing. Can Section 8 find him an affordable home? (www.usatoday.com)
- ^ Read (https://ift.tt/190DIWk)
- ^ Urban Institute (ui.charlotte.edu)
from GANNETT Syndication Service https://ift.tt/3GSwYfg
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