Voucher Mobility Debate at the Furman Center

The Furman Center has published a discussion on their website about voucher mobility. The discussion centers around HUD’s proposed Small Area Fair Market Rents rule, which would require certain metropolitan areas to use zip code level fair market rents. There are four written pieces, each with a unique viewpoint:

• Expanding Neighborhood Choices for Voucher Tenants Using Small Area Fair Market Rents (Rob Collinson);
• Housing Choice Shouldn’t Be At The Expense of Other Low-Income Renters (Rachel Fee);
• Small Area FMRs: A Jump-Start to Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (Demetria McCain); and
• Supporting, Protecting Low Income Residents is Essential to Ensuring Successful SAFMR Implementation (Diane Yentel).

Here’s a quote from Rachel Fee’s essay:

HUD’s proposal is made without a Section 8 budget increase, so housing “opportunity” for some low-income families will come at the expense of others.  Families who choose to stay in their current homes in high poverty areas or those who are unable to move, will literally pay the price of higher rents for families using their voucher in more expensive neighborhoods.

While NAHRO is still in the process of writing its comment letter on the proposed rule, NAHRO’s initial concerns about the Small Area FMR proposed rule include concerns about tenant welfare, limiting the choice of tenants, and administrative burdens. NAHRO also believes that additional research should be done before implementing HUD’s rule and that additional funding is required to properly implement it.