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Section 8 in the Courts: How Civil Rights Litigation Helped to Shape the Housing Choice Voucher Program (July 2024)

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Section 8 in the Courts: How Civil Rights Litigation Helped to Shape the Housing Choice Voucher ProgramThis article by Philip Tegeler and Sam Reece appears in Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research Volume 26, Number 2 • 2024
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Office of Policy Development and Research

Abstract

From its inception as the Section 8 Existing Housing program, the Housing Choice Voucher program has been informed by civil rights litigation under the 14th Amendment and the Fair Housing Act, challenging policies and practices that perpetuate racial and economic segregation or have the effect of discriminating on the basis of race or disability. Those cases have arguably influenced almost every aspect of the voucher program and, in some cases, have led directly to policy reform. This article attempts to trace the impacts of civil rights litigation and advocacy on voucher portability, housing mobility, geographic limitations on voucher administration, residency preferences, Section 8 allocation and admissions policies, payment standards, and rules governing housing for persons with disabilities. The article concludes with a look toward the possible future of Section 8 in the courts.

Introduction

Almost from the beginning, the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program has been molded by civil rights litigation. The role of the new Section 8 certificate program in the settlement of the Gautreaux v. HUD public housing desegregation case established the program’s role as a civil rights remedy in many similar cases and helped to set the regional aspirations of the program. Later cases helped to highlight problems in the program’s design that were driving racial and economic segregation and limiting families’ choices—and those cases often helped spur key policy reforms. This article will trace a 50-year dialogue between the courts, Congress, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on the application of the Fair Housing Act’s nondiscrimination and affirmatively furthering fair housing provisions to the voucher program, grounded in a broader story of HUD’s history in the courts (Hashimoto, 1997; PRRAC, 2023; Roisman, 1999).

Read the full article here.