Locked Out: The Systematic Exclusion of Poor Renters From Federally Subsidized Housing

ABSTRACT

Affordable housing is a critical resource with serious ramifications for a range of outcomes for low-income households. However, low-income prospective tenants are often denied subsidized housing through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on the basis of factors directly or indirectly related to their poverty and racialized identities. This study assesses how the admissions policies of public housing authorities and Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance developments in Rhode Island define criteria for denial on the basis of applicants’ criminal legal history, alcohol use, landlord history, and credit history. Three key findings emerge from this study that highlight the endemic nature of housing exclusion and elucidate how it is enacted. First, the plans include grounds for denial that far exceed the HUD-mandated criteria and utilize long lookback periods. Second, plans lack clarity and transparency. Third, admissions criteria vary significantly by development characteristics. Policy interventions include increased oversight and transparency and advocacy for inclusionary language.

KEYWORDS:

• subsidized housing
• housing denial
• homelessness
• collateral consequences

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Consideration of any mitigating factors; explicit reference to (a) drug and alcohol rehabilitation, (b) seriousness of the offense, (c) degree of participation in offending activity by household member/extent to which household has taken responsibility, (d) effect of denial on nonoffending household members, (e) effect of denial on the community.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded through a grant from the Boston University Initiative on Cities.

Notes on contributors

Megan C. Smith

Megan C. Smith is a social worker who has worked with the homeless community in Rhode Island for 12 years, primarily as an outreach worker with adults experiencing street homelessness. Her research interests emerge from her outreach work and include affordable housing policy, the criminalization of homelessness and poverty, issues of healthcare access, and models for community-based interdisciplinary education. She is active in community organizing and policy advocacy work with a number of grassroots and nonprofit groups in Rhode Island, and has taught at the Rhode Island College School of Social Work and the Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

Thomas H. Byrne

Thomas H. Byrne is an assistant professor at the Boston University School of Social Work and an investigator at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Center for Healthcare Outcomes and Implementation Research (CHOIR) and National Center on Homelessness among Veterans. His research focuses broadly on the causes and consequences of, and policy solutions to, homelessness and housing insecurity. He is also active in a number of initiatives to prevent and end homelessness in Massachusetts and serves on the board of directors at Hearth, Inc., a Boston-based organization dedicated to eliminating homelessness among the elderly through prevention, placement, and housing programs.