Housing Allowances in the US under Section 8 and in Other Countries: A Canadian Perspective

Abstract

Housing allowances are provided in the US by the federal government under Section 8 of the 1974 Housing and Community Development Act. This paper compares the design of Section 8 certi cates and vouchers with that of Canadian housing allowances and with aspects of design in many other developed nations. Distinguishing elements of Section 8 are discussed: its minimum standards condition, its use of a three-way contract in which both the government housing agency and the tenant pays a private landlord, its availability to only a limited number of eligibles, the absence of a percentage-of-rent element in its formulas and the low required contribution of its recipients. It is argued on the basis of an array of diverse evidence that these characteristics lead to perverse housing consumption effects, stigma, rent in ation and unnecessary restrictions on recipient choice. The paper also addresses the standard objections to dropping the minimum standards condition and to incorporating a percentage-of-rent element in the formula.

Housing Allowances and Private Renting in Liberal Welfare Regimes

“…Housing research involving these countries has been predominantly 'single country', with the exception of some comparisons between aspects of housing provision in Canada and the United States (e.g. Dreier and Hulchanski, 1993;Wexler, 1996;Harris, 1998;Steele, 2001). The rest of this paper explores the relevance of the concept of a liberal welfare regime by examining the rental housing sector in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States, drawing on comparative research on housing allowances for private renters undertaken for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (see Hulse, 2002a, for a full report).…”

“…This system can be seen most clearly in Canada where specific shelter allowances are included as a core component in the calculation of social assistance payments, notionally based on actual housing costs up to a maximum (Steele, 1998(Steele, , 2001. In practice, maximum shelter allowances within provincial/local schemes have been capped at levels that bear little relation to prevailing market rents (Prince, 1998;FCM, 2000).…”

Housing Vouchers, Benefits and Allowances (VBAs): Comparing Rental Tools in the US, England and the Netherlands

“…This, however, should be qualified as the extent of nonprofit rental units in the private rental sector of the US is not known to the authors. In addition, vouchers in the US limit tenant choice in more ways than one (Steele, 2001). In contrast, Britain and the Netherlands allow tenants to use VBAs to access both private and social rental housing sectors.…”

Home Purchase Certificates: The Other Housing Vouchers

“…4 For a detailed discussion of the economics of vouchers, seeBradford and Shaviro (2000). 5 For descriptions of OECD countries, seeKemp (1997) andSteele (2001); for Eastern Europe and the CIS, seeStruyk (1996),Lux (2003: Ch. 8) and WorldBank (2000: Ch.…”