"The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease": Rental Assistance Applicants' Quests for a Rationed and Scarce Resource. (17th August 2021)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- "The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease": Rental Assistance Applicants' Quests for a Rationed and Scarce Resource. (17th August 2021)
- Main Title:
- "The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease": Rental Assistance Applicants' Quests for a Rationed and Scarce Resource
- Authors:
- Keene, Danya E
Rosenberg, Alana
Schlesinger, Penelope
Whittaker, Shannon
Niccolai, Linda
Blankenship, Kim M - Abstract:
- Abstract: In 2016, only one in five eligible U.S. households received rental assistance and waiting lists averaged two years nationally. The gap between available rental assistance and need requires systems to allocate this scarce resource. The way potential rental assistance recipients experience and navigate these systems is likely to shape who ultimately receives assistance. We draw on repeated qualitative interviews (N=238) with low-income New Haven residents (N=54) to examine how participants understand and navigate rental assistance applications and waiting lists. Participants encountered multiple challenges in their search for rental assistance. They described an opaque and complex application and waiting process requiring significant knowledge to navigate. They also described considerable labor associated with monitoring waiting lists, a challenge made more difficult for some by their lack of a stable address. Additionally, participants described significant labor and knowledge required to strategically navigate prioritization systems that often required them to advocate for their deservingness of scarce housing resources. Our findings suggest that the allocation of rental assistance through complex processes that depend on applicant knowledge, labor, and advocacy may create barriers to housing, particularly for more vulnerable and marginalized housing seekers.
- Is Part Of:
- Social problems. Volume 70:Number 1(2023)
- Journal:
- Social problems
- Issue:
- Volume 70:Number 1(2023)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 70, Issue 1 (2023)
- Year:
- 2023
- Volume:
- 70
- Issue:
- 1
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2023-0070-0001-0000
- Page Start:
- 203
- Page End:
- 218
- Publication Date:
- 2021-08-17
- Subjects:
- rental assistance -- public housing -- social services -- criminal justice -- qualitative
Social problems -- Periodicals
301 - Journal URLs:
- http://socpro.oxfordjournals.org/ ↗
http://www.oxfordjournals.org ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1093/socpro/spab035 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0037-7791
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 8318.136000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 25697.xml