The Effect of Housing Choice Voucher Households on Neighborhood Crime: Longitudinal Evidence From Dallas. Issue 3 (18th September 2013) - Van Zandt, Shannon S.
Abstract Tenant‐based housing assistance is designed to provide access for low‐income households to a wider range of housing options, de‐concentrating poverty and reducing the exposure of these households to negative conditions. Yet an observed coincidence of crime and subsidized households indicates that something is going wrong. Either households are constrained in their choices and are settling in high‐crime neighborhoods, or these households bring crime with them, using vouchers to penetrate otherwise low‐crime neighborhoods. We use longitudinal data from Dallas to assess whether changes in the number of Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) households are related to changes in crime, not just whether HCV households are present in high‐crime neighborhoods. The evidence supports the hypothesis that observed relationships between crime and HCV households result from a lack of units that accept vouchers in areas that have lower levels of crime. The hypothesis that voucher holders are the cause of increases in neighborhood crime is not supported.