Household Energy Costs and the Housing Choice Voucher Program: Do Utility Allowances Pay the Bills?. Issue 4 (4th July 2019)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Household Energy Costs and the Housing Choice Voucher Program: Do Utility Allowances Pay the Bills?. Issue 4 (4th July 2019)
- Main Title:
- Household Energy Costs and the Housing Choice Voucher Program: Do Utility Allowances Pay the Bills?
- Authors:
- Ray, Anne
Wang, Ruoniu
Nguyen, Diep
Martinez, Jim
Taylor, Nicholas
Searcy, Jennison Kipp - Abstract:
- ABSTRACT: Utility bills present a hidden threat to the affordability of a family's housing—unknown before a household moves into a unit, and unpredictable from one month to the next. In theory, tenants receiving Housing Choice Vouchers are shielded from energy cost burdens through utility allowances built into rent subsidies. However, tenants may face actual energy costs that far outstrip allowances, effectively rendering their housing unaffordable. This study compares utility allowances with electric bills for over 19, 000 Housing Choice Voucher households in four Florida cities and identifies household and unit characteristics associated with excessive costs. Nearly half of tenants in the sample faced bills in excess of posted allowances, with households renting single-family homes particularly at risk. On the other hand, state-sponsored affordable housing developments, such as those subsidized by the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, offered voucher tenants the chance to live in modern units with lower energy use and a better fit between costs and the utility allowance. The findings have implications for housing authorities and tenants seeking to reduce energy cost burdens.
- Is Part Of:
- Housing policy debate. Volume 29:Issue 4(2019)
- Journal:
- Housing policy debate
- Issue:
- Volume 29:Issue 4(2019)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 29, Issue 4 (2019)
- Year:
- 2019
- Volume:
- 29
- Issue:
- 4
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2019-0029-0004-0000
- Page Start:
- 607
- Page End:
- 626
- Publication Date:
- 2019-07-04
- Subjects:
- energy -- vouchers -- affordability -- multifamily -- tax credits
Housing policy -- United States -- Periodicals
Housing -- United States -- Finance -- Periodicals
Housing policy
Public housing -- Finance
United States
Periodicals
Electronic journals
363.58097305 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/programs/hpd.html ↗
http://www.mi.vt.edu/web/page/580/sectionid/580/pagelevel/1/interior.asp ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rhpd20#.U2FVCU0U-mQ ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rhpd20/current ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/10511482.2019.1566158 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 1051-1482
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 10938.xml