The Department of Housing and Urban Development is exploring the idea of giving struggling Americans cash aid instead of vouchers. That might seem like an unlikely, bold new move for the federal housing agency — except it turns out that back in the 1970s, HUD was already testing the idea.
Before the cash-aid results were even in, however, HUD launched its voucher program that now serves millions of people. A few years ago, a HUD employee came across the reports from its 1970s tests and wondered whether the idea was worth a new look.
“It’s taken us 50 years to come back to it and really experiment with it once again,” says Solomon Greene, who helps develop policy at HUD.
Why it matters
The housing voucher program has been a lifeline for millions of people, but there are real problems. There aren’t nearly enough federal housing vouchers for everyone who qualifies, and many people wait years for them. What happens next can be even more frustrating.
When Elizabeth Alvandi finally got a voucher in 2022, she drove from North Carolina to Massachusetts to try and find an apartment near her aging dad. “I am sleeping in my car and doing the best I can to make the most of every moment that I’m there,” she recalled. But for three months she was rejected again and again, or told nothing was available.
“There were a couple conversations that just ended,” she says, “when they asked what my income was and how I’d be paying for it.”
No one said it was because of her housing voucher. In fact, discriminating like that is banned in some 20 states. And yet, Alvandi could not find a landlord to take it.
Why vouchers…
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