Housing Choice Vouchers: Providing choice and opportunity in a tight housing market

One of the federal government’s primary affordable housing programs is the Housing Choice Voucher program, also known as Section 8. While they remain limited and the waiting list is often extensive, housing choice vouchers remain the only federal program that provides direct rental assistance to individuals while allowing them to choose any housing on the market. These vouchers are administered by public housing agencies; in the City of Atlanta, that’s Atlanta Housing. Ideally, a voucher holder can choose any housing that meets the requirements of the program and are not limited to subsidized, public, or affordable housing complexes. The value of the housing voucher varies based on the participant’s income, ensuring they will not have to pay more than 30 percent of their adjusted income towards rent.

Although the goal of the Housing Choice Voucher program is simply that – to provide individuals and families with choice in their housing – achieving that goal is often rife with obstacles. The first obstacle is obtaining a voucher. Voucher availability is extremely limited and waitlists only open at certain times during the year. Many cities hold lotteries for individuals on the waiting list, or prioritize those with very low incomes, single parents, and other high-need groups. Most recently, more than 175,000 Georgians applied for just 13,000 available vouchers across the state.

Finding housing is another obstacle. Rental rates must be below a maximum set by the housing authority; in Atlanta, this varies by neighborhood but tends to be approximately $1,600 to $2,600 for a two-bedroom apartment and up to $3,250 for a three-bedroom. Finding an apartment with qualifying rates may be difficult, but not as challenging as finding landlords who will willingly accept vouchers. Here in Atlanta, landlords have virtually no incentive to accept vouchers and continue to turn voucher holders away. In fact, a complaint among some property managers is that enhanced inspections imposed by the housing authority and burdensome paperwork actively disincentivize the acceptance of vouchers in the city.

Legislation passed by the Atlanta City Council in 2020 attempted to require landlords to accept vouchers as rent payments – a policy known as a source of income protection – but the legislation was deemed legally unenforceable, as it conflicted with state laws that bar municipalities from creating such laws. In a rental market as hot as Atlanta’s, voucher holders are at an even bigger disadvantage, as landlords and property management companies often have multiple tenant applicants to choose from.

The City of Atlanta and housing advocates continue to look for policy solutions to maximize the number of landlords who will accept vouchers. In the meantime, tenants who are lucky enough to get off the waitlist for a voucher may still face insurmountable barriers to accessing housing.