One of the most prominent problems affecting the world today is homelessness due to the lack of sufficient housing. The Housing Choice Voucher program is federally funded and is the government’s main solution to providing affordable housing assistance. The Housing Choice Voucher program, better known as Section 8, came into fruition in 1974 under the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. Since then, approximately five million people benefit from this program annually. The majority of those five million people are in one of the three categories: low income families, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
So how does this system work? Well, the participants in the program pay approximately 30% of their income for rent and utilities and the housing choice voucher covers the rest up to a cap based on HUD estimates of the typical market rents in the area. The amount covered by the housing choice voucher goes directly to the landlords. Only about 25% of people who apply for these services receive them due to the lack of funding and hence, waitlists are established.
The system provides a sense of dignity and autonomy to its participants as it generally allows them to choose where they wish to reside in a neighborhood that may be low income but it is not at the end of the spectrum. Furthermore, the housing authority inspections are held up to HUD’s standards, which are exceedingly high. Inspections are performed by the Public Housing Authority staff members and the landlords must pass an initial inspection upon the desire to lease the property, annual inspection and any special inspections that may occur on the basis of complaints by either the tenant, landlord or public in regards to the housing property. These inspections are based on thirteen key aspects: smoke detectors, sanitary facilities, the use of lead paint, sanitary conditions, access, the site and neighborhood, the thermal environment, the illumination and electricity, the structure and materials used, food preparation and refuse disposal, space and security, interior air quality and water supply. Basically, the agency goes over everything to ensure that the tenants under their program have a safe and secure environment.
There are three types of vouchers that this program provides: tenant based vouchers, project based vouchers, and home ownership vouchers. Tenant based vouchers allow the users of the program to choose from any eligible housing unit in the private market be it apartment complexes, townhouses, or family homes; the rent is partially covered and is given automatically to the landlord. Project based vouchers do not allow the participants of the program to choose where they live but instead assign the participants to a certain property participating in the program. The home ownership vouchers allow residents to either buy their home or pay monthly home ownership expenses instead of rent with the only stipulation being that the amount paid to the participant is the same amount that would be used to cover the cost of rent.
While extremely useful, this program does have some setbacks. There is generally a long wait period to get into the subsidized housing units because of a general lack of funding. In fact, the average amount of time that people spend on wait lists is approximately two and a half years, with the longest amount being up to eight years. This causes homelessness, eviction, and overcrowding for copious amounts of people.
Another issue that the participants in the program face is that the landlords have the right to refuse the vouchers. The vouchers are beneficial to a lot of landlords because the stipend issued goes directly to the landlord, meaning that the landlord would receive definite payment. Yet, while some landlords acknowledge this fact and use the program to their advantage, others prefer to refuse the vouchers for various reasons. According to reddit forums, the landlords feel that the tenants using the housing choice system are a lot more work than normal tenants, that they are completely unreliable, unkempt, and that the inspections from the housing authority are too demanding on the landlords. The paperwork itself also appears to be an issue as it is very tedious and takes an extensive period of time to go through and, as a result, some of the housing is left unoccupied for periods of time before the tenants are allowed there.
In the Springfield, Illinois area, the Springfield Housing Authority is in charge of administering the Housing Choice Voucher program and the subsequent vouchers. The program itself would not be successful without the diligent staff working to make a difference. The Board of Commissioners consists of four members: Tim Schweiser, Daniel R. Long, Luckist Turner and Joshua Johnson. These four people have the responsibility of overseeing the SHA's mission of providing quality, affordable housing, advocating for residents, and preserving existing affordable housing stock, while also supporting the expansion of diverse affordable housing options. The Executive Director of the facility is Jackie L. Newman. Jackie is responsible for managing and directing all functions of the agency, including administering policies, supervising staff, ensuring compliance with regulations, and overseeing the development and preservation of affordable housing, as well as managing the agency's budget.
In order to be eligible for a housing choice voucher in Illinois, the staff members will collect information regarding the applicant’s family composition, income, and any assets that have been acquired. All applications must be filled out in person and be interviewed by a section 8 specialist. If the family is eligible, they will be put on the waiting list and additional information will be taken. After that, the participant will be required to attend a new participant briefing session where the housing choice voucher will be issued. I have provided a short graph of the eligibility for income limits below.
Household Size | FY 2025 Income Limit |
1 | $40,150 |
2 | $45,900 |
3 | $51,650 |
4 | $57,350 |
5 | $61,950 |
6 | $66,550 |
7 | $71,150 |
8 | $75,750 |
In addition to housing choice vouchers, the Springfield Housing Authorities can build new projects. The City of Springfield allocated funds to two affordable housing projects in FY2023 and monitored the development of a project funded from previous years, including the Deerfield Park Place development which added 22 units of affordable rental units. The SHA has also partnered with the Nehemiah Expansion, Inc. to build 40 single-family homes in a historically disadvantaged part of the city. Another example would be when they worked on the Park Avenue Residences, a supportive housing community providing 22 apartments for formerly homeless residents. No matter which way you look at it, the program is beneficial to everyone involved and is helping to dramatically decrease the number of people experiencing homelessness. One can only imagine what the future may bring and what new residences will be built under this company.
Works Cited
chrome-extension://bdfcnmeidppjeaggnmidamkiddifkdib/viewer.html?file=https://www.springfield.il.us/Docs/PublicNotice/
https://www.hud.gov/helping-americans/housing-choice-vouchers-tenants
https://www.nhlp.org/resource-center/section-8-vouchers/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Landlord/comments/1855fkt/landlord_usil_accepting_section_8/
http://springfieldhousingauthority.org/section8.aspx
This is a comprehensive paper with many details. I am glad you have included names of people involved in public housing in Springfield, and also provided a chart on income limits for household sizes to qualify for housing vouchers. If I were going to add anything, I would add some details about the total numbers of households or persons getting each type of voucher and the total budget for each voucher program, which would have enabled you to give at least a rough calculation of how much this program costs, on average, per household. You mentioned about five million people benefit from the voucher program annually.
Given the recommended time investments I asked students to put into this paper, you probably exceeded the work load I expected from students. No shame in that; this is a paper you can be proud of.
No comments:
Post a Comment