The housing choice voucher program is the largest federal rental assistance program administered by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The voucher program works within private rental markets to help low-income households find the rental housing that best fits their needs. But its reliance on the private market can limit the program’s ability to serve low-income families.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of vouchers in periods of systemic shock, but it also elevates the reality that low-income households experience income and housing shocks that warrant a sufficient safety net regardless of a pandemic. The lack of federal vision around, and support for housing policy was evident before the pandemic and is even clearer now. We are currently asking people to remain in their homes when a significant number of people across the country lacked any housing before the pandemic.

Recent research by the Urban Institute, as well as by Drs. Eva Rosen, Phillip Garboden, and colleagues, shows how and why many owners outright refuse to accept vouchers, which lowers voucher-use rates. Racial discrimination in the housing market and the challenges that families with kids face finding a rental unit further inhibit voucher use. My research found that households with children and those headed by Black and older adults had significantly lower odds of using their voucher despite their high level of demand for the subsidy. It is worth noting that all of these groups are protected classes under the Fair Housing Act. These unequal voucher-use rates remind us that the voucher program, absent any additional assistance, does not work the same for everyone.