How pervasive is source of income discrimination faced by housing choice voucher households: Lessons from a progressive Midwestern city

Abstract

Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) recipients encounter many types of discrimination in the housing search process. Landlords could choose not to lease a home to HCV recipients merely because they are HCV recipients. While many forms of discrimination (such as discrimination because of race or gender) are proscribed by federal and state constitutions, discrimination based on source of income (such as paying rent using an HCV) is not banned by the federal constitution or by most state or local statutes. Discrimination faced for using an HCV makes the housing search process more complicated and time-consuming for HCV recipients, often restricting their housing options and resulting in sub-optimal housing choices. We report on the findings of a study exploring the relative magnitude of discrimination for using HCV compared to other types of discrimination among HCV recipients of a Midwestern public housing authority (PHA). We also report on how this source of income discrimination varies by race and other socioeconomic and demographic factors. Information for this study was collected by surveying all HCV families of this PHA using a mail-out/mail-back questionnaire. Our findings suggest that source-of-income discrimination is perhaps more pervasive than other common discriminatory factors. We conclude the paper by describing policy responses to our findings.