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The Suburbanization of Housing Choice Voucher Recipients
(Reprinted from Brookings, Metropolitan Opportunity Series | Number 25 )
Just as the suburbanization of poverty has gathered momentum, Americans who use housing choice vouchers (HCV) to help pay for their housing have increasingly moved into suburban areas as well.
Where HCV recipients can locate in suburban areas is critically important to their job prospects. During the 1990s, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development implemented several policy changes aimed at giving HCV recipients more choices, but we do not know a great deal about whether this is increasing the variety of housing opportunities for recipients when they move to the suburbs, particularly housing opportunities that connect well with employment opportunities.
This study analyzes the changing location of HCV recipients within the nation's largest metro areas in the 2000s and finds:
- Nearly half of all HCV recipients lived in suburban areas in 2008. However, HCV recipients remained less suburbanized than the total population, the poor population, and affordable housing units generally.
- Black HCV recipients suburbanized fastest over the 2000 to 2008 period, though white HCV recipients were still more suburbanized than their black or Latino counterparts by 2008. Black HCV recipients' suburbanization rate increased by nearly 5 percent over this period, while that for Latinos increased by about 1 percent. The suburbanization rate for white HCV recipients declined slightly.
- Within metro areas, HCV recipients moved further toward higher-income, jobs-rich suburbs between 2000 and 2008.
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"Housing + Transportation + Jobs" To Be Presented at Governor's Housing Conference
 How much is the true cost of housing impacted by long work commutes? In a challenging economy with higher fuel costs, rising housing cost burdens, and a back log of road maintenance and construction projects, it's time to connect the dots between housing and transportation. Housing Virginia and the Southern Environmental Law Center will present at this year's Governor's Housing Conference: Navigating in a Changing Environment forums based on the report "Jobs, Transportation and Housing: Connecting Home & Work".
Listen to panelists with perspectives on the latest trends and opportunities in housing, community design, economic development, and transportation. Take away ideas for reframing housing affordability in your community. For more information on the Governor's Housing Conference go to |
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Earlier this month, the Virginia Beach Roundtable welcomed 30 people to attend a tour of eleven communities, speaking with residents at properties including Wesleyan Place, Cloverleaf, and Lynnhaven Landing. Participants included media, the Mayor's Commission representatives, City leaders, CSB leaders, representatives from Congressman Scott Rigell's office, local grant foundations, and more.
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Lynchburg Begins Talks About City's Housing Needs
(Reprinted Article From the Lynchburg News and Advocate) For the first time, Lynchburg is initiating a citywide conversation about its housing needs. Fueled by a planning grant, the city is bringing government officials, business leaders, nonprofits and citizens together in hopes of developing a strategic plan to guide its future housing decisions. "Quite frankly, we've approached housing with a fragmented perspective over the years," said Deputy City Manager Bonnie Svrcek. "... This is about trying to connect those dots." While the city has often debated the merits of different housing projects on an ad-hoc basis, it has never had a strategic plan to turn to for advice.
"We've been talking about a housing plan since I've been on City Council, but we still don't have anything concrete," said Councilman Michael Gillette. "We just have this nebulous sort of, oh yeah, we'd like to do this." Councilman H. Cary agreed it was imperative to develop a plan."I think it's important, going forward, for us to have one," he said. "... We would be negligent if we didn't try to fill that void."
The city's new project, which is funded by a $5,000 grant from the public-private partnership Housing Virginia, will involve holding a series of community meetings to help shape a new set of housing strategies. Questions will include what types of unaddressed needs exist in Lynchburg, what strategies can be used to achieve the city's goals and how success can be measured. Read More...
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Other Articles
Transportation and Housing Alliance: A Statewide Partnership for Inclusive Communities - THA has created the THA Toolkit, which that functions as a catalog of technical support and best management practices for an inclusive approach to common planning projects, including comprehensive plans, transit studies and other common tasks.
Housing the Region's Future Workforce - This research analyzes the future housing demand associated with net new job growth in the Washington DC metropolitan area between 2010 and 2030. Because it is a jobs-driven forecast of housing demand, it explicitly links the economic opportunities in the region to the availability and affordability of housing. |
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Stay tuned for more information about the new Housing Virginia White Paper: The Effects of Housing on the Local Economy
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Give to Housing Virginia
Your generous gift helps Housing Virginia to make the case for increasing the supply of affordable housing options across the Commonwealth. Your tax-deductible donation may be sent to: Housing Virginia P. O. Box 4658 Richmond, VA 23220 Or you can make a secure online donation here.Housing Virginia also participates in the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign. Please use CVC code # 3690. |
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