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

Abstract

ABSTRACTHousing 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.KEYWORDS: Affordable housinginequalityrace Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. Code of the City of Iowa City, Title 2 (Human Rights), Chapter 5 (Fair Housing).Additional informationNotes on contributorsJerry AnthonyJerry Anthony, PhD, FAICP, is an associate professor at the School of Urban & Regional Planning at the University of Iowa. He has an undergraduate degree in Architecture, a graduate degree in Town Planning, and a PhD in Urban & Regional Planning. He researches U.S. housing policy issues, U.S. land policy issues, and international planning issues, particularly in South Asia. He is a co-founder of the Housing Trust Fund of Johnson County (https://www.htfjc.org/). He has developed several interactive online maps on housing issues; for example, a map depicting housing cost burdens in U.S. counties in 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2015 can be found at http://ppc.uiowa.edu/housing/affordability. His research has been supported by many entities such as the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, The Brookings Institution, and the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Iowa in the United States. He was a Fulbright Scholar in India in 2023.Parya SeifParya Seif is an associate planner at the County of Santa Clara, Planning and Development Department. She is a certified quarry inspector and manager of the Tree Removal and Preservation Program at the County of Santa Clara. Parya got her Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Iowa, and another Master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Kashan. Her work is focused on land development management, planning policies and laws, as well as environmental preservation.Rachael SchaeferRachael Schaefer works as planner II at the City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where she focuses on the development and implementation of long-range planning activities and policy creation. Prior to this, she was the senior planner for Johnson County, Indiana, where her focus was on planning, zoning, subdivision platting, and other community development activities. Rachael received a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Iowa’s School of Planning and Public Affairs. Rachael is passionate about creating thriving and equitable communities.