As we continue our series on barriers to safe and stable rental housing, we want to take a look at the housing voucher program. While built to give individuals a choice in housing, this program has real challenges for those who can obtain a housing voucher. Today, we will look at some of the frustrating challenges faced by renters who rely on housing choice vouchers in securing housing.
The Basics: What Are Housing Choice Vouchers?
The Housing Choice Voucher Program (formerly known as Section 8) is the federal government’s main rental assistance program, assisting 2.3 million low-income households across the United States. The program provides rental subsidies paid directly to landlords, with participants typically contributing between 30-40% of their income toward rent while the voucher covers the remainder.
To qualify, families must be extremely low-income or very low-income as determined by HUD income limits for their area. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or eligible non-citizens, have valid Social Security numbers, and pass criminal background checks.
The First Barrier: Actually Getting a Voucher
Due to severely limited federal funding, families who manage to get off waiting lists typically wait years before receiving assistance. Among the 50 largest housing agencies in the country, only two have average wait times under one year. The most extended waiting periods stretch up to eight years. Nationally, families that received vouchers had spent close to two and a half years on waitlists.
Many housing agencies have closed their waiting lists entirely to new applicants; 53 percent of agencies had closed lists according to a 2016 survey. Even when lists are open, millions of eligible families either can’t get on a waitlist or drop off without ever obtaining assistance. Some agencies are not selecting new families from their waiting lists at all and don’t anticipate doing so for several more years due to insufficient federal funding. Simply put, this system is not adequate for the number of individuals who need to utilize it.
How the Program Is Supposed to Work (In Theory)
Once selected from the waitlist, families must attend a voucher orientation briefing where they learn how the program works. They are then issued a voucher with a search time of 60 to 120 days, as determined by the local Public Housing Agency.
It becomes the family’s responsibility to find housing. They must complete a Request for Tenancy Approval packet, and the landlord must also complete and sign portions of this document. The housing agency then inspects the unit to ensure it meets Housing Quality Standards, determines if the rent is reasonable for the area, and negotiates with the landlord if necessary.
Families generally pay 30 percent of their adjusted income toward rent, though they may choose to pay up to 40 percent at initial occupancy to access units in higher-cost areas. The housing agency pays the balance up to a maximum called the payment standard.
The Reality: Staggeringly Low Success Rates
This is where theory meets harsh reality.
According to the New York University Furman Center, nearly 40% of households that are assigned vouchers are unable to use them. Further national studies show that only about 60% of voucher recipients successfully use their vouchers to lease homes, even after waiting an average of two and a half years to receive them.
Success rates have declined significantly in recent years. In 2022, the national success rate fell to 57%, down from 66% in 2018. The median time required for successful lease-up increased from 59 days in 2018 to 78 days in 2022, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
If you can actually obtain a housing voucher, there is still an uphill battle to secure rental housing. Now we will look at some of the further challenges renters face after obtaining their voucher.
Barrier #1: Landlord Discrimination and Refusal
The biggest obstacle? Landlords who simply won’t accept vouchers.
The Federal Fair Housing Act does not prohibit discrimination against renters based on vouchers or other sources of income, meaning landlords are legally free to reject applications solely because someone has a voucher in most jurisdictions.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, studies across five localities found that between 15% and 78% of landlords refused to accept housing vouchers for available units. While the state of Indiana does not keep this statistic, we believe that the refusal rate of accepting housing vouchers remains high in Indiana, due in part to the limited number of rental properties across the state, meaning that the landlord may make significantly more money renting on the open market due to supply and demand for housing.
Landlords cite various reasons for refusing vouchers: perceived administrative hassles, additional paperwork and inspections, compliance with government regulations, time-consuming inspection processes that delay move-in dates, and bureaucratic payment procedures.
The discrimination has particularly severe impacts on racial minorities. Nationally, 41% of voucher holders are Black and 16% are Hispanic. In major urban centers like Atlanta, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C., 90% or more of voucher holders are minorities, according to the Urban Institute.
Barrier #2: Payment Standard Limitations
Payment standards are set within 10% of the Fair Market Rent that HUD establishes for an area, typically at the 40th percentile of market rents for standard-quality units in an entire metropolitan area or rural county. When payment standards are too low for higher-opportunity neighborhoods with better schools, lower crime, and more resources, families struggle to find affordable units with their vouchers, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The article went on to state that rents can vary significantly from neighborhood to neighborhood, so metro-wide payment standards are often too low to cover market rents in some areas and too high in others. When standards are too low in low-poverty neighborhoods, families cannot afford to use their vouchers there.
Barrier #3: Time Limits Create Pressure
Voucher holders have at least 60 days to search for housing upon initial receipt of their voucher, though some housing agencies have discretion to allow more extended periods.
Vouchers expire if families cannot find housing within the allotted timeframe. Extensions may be available, but vouchers can and do expire, leaving families who waited years for assistance back at square one.
Barrier #4: Inspection and Bureaucratic Hurdles
The approval process involves extensive paperwork. A single Request for Tenancy Approval can involve 13 pages of forms that must be completed, signed, and submitted by both the tenant and landlord. Without clear portals for document uploads or organized deadlines, confusion frequently occurs, leading to documents being requested repeatedly through tangled email threads.
Units must pass Housing Quality Standards inspections to ensure basic health and safety. Inspectors verify that smoke alarms work, toilets flush, appliances function, and heating/cooling systems operate correctly. They check for safety hazards, defects, deterioration, and issues like peeling paint. While this inspection can help ensure a safe living environment, this process creates additional paperwork and checks and balances, which many landlords choose not to participate in.
When inspectors find problems and landlords fail to address them quickly, the housing agency may stop paying rent, potentially leading to eviction for voucher holders who cannot make up the difference.
Barrier #5: Additional Financial Burdens
Many housing agencies require voucher holders to pay security deposits on their own. Landlords may also require application fees. Additionally, many voucher recipients have poor credit, no credit history, or eviction records, making it even more challenging to find housing. Some landlords don’t count the voucher subsidy toward income requirements, causing applicants to fail income thresholds.
If you have a limited time to secure housing before your voucher expires, one would expect a potential renter to submit many applications. This is a costly proposition for the lowest-income renters and might significantly hinder their ability to find rental housing.
The Racial Equity Dimension
Black and Hispanic voucher recipients are significantly less likely to lease homes than other recipients in the same markets. The disparities are partly explained by differing neighborhood conditions where voucher recipients begin their searches. Still, substantial gaps remain even after accounting for these factors, according to an article on Science Direct.
With 48% of Housing Choice Voucher recipients being Black and 18% Hispanic, refusing to accept vouchers can serve as a mask for racial discrimination that would otherwise be prohibited under the Fair Housing Act.
There Are Solutions, They’re Just Not Being Implemented at Scale
The good news? We have a start on how to fix these problems. In “Lessons from Eviction Court,” Fran Quigley outlines evidence-based solutions that could dramatically improve the housing voucher program. The frustrating reality is that these improvements aren’t being implemented on any meaningful scale.
Fully Fund the Program Like We Fund Other Essential Support
The most fundamental reform would be to fully fund housing vouchers to meet demand, similar to how we fund Medicaid and SNAP (food stamps). These programs function as entitlements, meaning everyone who qualifies receives assistance without years-long waiting lists. Housing is just as essential to survival as healthcare and food, yet we treat it as a limited lottery rather than a fundamental right. Full funding would eliminate the cruel reality of families waiting years only to have their vouchers expire unused.
Simplify the Process for Everyone
The current system buries both landlords and tenants in unnecessary bureaucracy. Streamlining paperwork, creating user-friendly online portals, expediting inspections, and reducing redundant requirements would make the program more accessible to landlords while reducing stress on families racing against expiring vouchers. When the process is more straightforward, more landlords participate and more families succeed.
Test Direct Cash Payments to Reduce Bias
One innovative approach worth exploring is providing cash payments directly to tenants rather than advertising voucher status to landlords. Pilot programs testing this model could help determine whether it reduces the discrimination voucher holders face. When landlords don’t know the rent is being subsidized, they can’t use voucher status as a proxy for discrimination. This approach respects tenant autonomy while potentially opening up more housing options.
Pass Source of Income Anti-Discrimination Laws
Perhaps the most immediately impactful reform would be passing laws that prohibit sources of income discrimination. Currently, the federal Fair Housing Act doesn’t protect voucher holders from discrimination, leaving them vulnerable to blanket refusals. However, states and localities can fill this gap. As of now, 20 states, the District of Columbia, and over 70 localities have enacted source of income protections. These laws simply require landlords to evaluate voucher holders using the same criteria they use for all applicants—credit history, references, and rental history—rather than rejecting them outright because of their voucher status.
Research shows these laws work. In jurisdictions with source of income protections, voucher holders have significantly better success rates in leasing homes.
These solutions aren’t theoretical—they’re proven approaches that simply need political will and adequate funding to implement. The question isn’t whether we know how to improve the housing voucher program. The question is whether we have the collective commitment to do so.
The Bottom Line
According to Rand.org, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank, housing vouchers and similar federal assistance programs help only roughly one in four eligible households. Resources are incredibly scarce relative to demand.
When vouchers are available, they are highly effective at reducing homelessness, housing instability, and overcrowding. Vouchers can give people with low incomes greater choice about where they live and enable them to move to neighborhoods with lower poverty rates and more resources.
But obtaining a voucher after years of waiting does not guarantee housing. With success rates around 60% and declining, landlord discrimination is widespread. Payment standards are often inadequate for opportunity-rich neighborhoods, and there are tight time limits and bureaucratic complexities. Housing vouchers are far from the golden ticket many assume them to be.
The path forward is clear; we simply need to walk it.
