Are Landlords Overcharging Housing Voucher Holders?

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• 作者：Matthew Desmond and Kristin L. Perkins
• 刊名：City & Community
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：June 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：15
• 期：2
• 页码：137-162
• 全文大小：409K
• ISSN：1540-6040

文摘

The structure of rental markets coupled with the design of the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP), the largest federal housing subsidy for low-income families in the United States, provides the opportunity to overcharge voucher holders. Applying hedonic regression models to a unique data set of Milwaukee renters combined with administrative records, we find that vouchered households are charged between $51 and $68 more in monthly rent than unassisted renters in comparable units and neighborhoods. Overcharging voucher holders costs taxpayers an estimated $3.8 million each year in Milwaukee alone, the equivalent of supplying 620 additional families in that city with housing assistance. These findings suggest that the HCVP could be made more cost-effective—and therefore more expansive—if overcharging were prevented.