HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER HOUSEHOLDS AND NEIGHBORHOOD QUALITY: A CASE STUDY OF HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS A Dissertation by HAN PARK Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Shannon Van Zandt Co-Chair of Committee, Wei Li Committee Members, Cecilia Giusti Rebekka Dudensing Head of Department, Shannon Van Zandt August 2017 Major Subject: Urban and Regional Sciences Copyright 2017 Han Park ABSTRACT Affordable housing programs are critical in increasing low-income citizens’ quality of life. The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, one of the major affordable housing programs since 1974, purportedly helps low-income tenants to attain better housing and neighborhood conditions by allowing households to rent units on the private rental market. The greatest advantage of the HCV program is that it offers voucher holders the possibility to choose rental units in their preferred areas. The primary aim of the HCV program is to ensure that subsidized households such as low- income families, senior citizens, and disabled people can reside in decent homes and in neighborhoods with good opportunities, as is the case for general renters. By adopting a quasi-experimental design, this research assesses locational outcomes for income-qualified households in Harris County, Texas: one of the largest housing markets in the nation. It compares locational outcomes for a list of HCV holders’ addresses to those of a list of households which qualified for HCV but remained on the waiting list. The findings indicate that the HCV program’s Fair Market Rents (FMRs) and Income Limits (ILs) likely restricted HCV households to neighborhoods that are not significantly different from those to which households without vouchers have access. In other words, receiving an HCV subsidy does not notably change the locational outcomes of the recipient households. The comparison analysis between HCV tenants and waitlisted renters shows similar patterns concerning neighborhood-quality levels. This finding stands in contrast to a comparison between the neighborhoods that ii are accessible to these recipients and those living in units provided by the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, as well as those neighborhoods in which average renters live. This research aims to provide policy recommendations for planners and policy makers in order to guide practical strategies by which to improve the HCV program criteria and thereby help to alleviate current market constraints on HCV residents. iii DEDICATION To my parents. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” - Philippians 4:13 I would like to thank my committee chairs, Dr. Shannon Van Zandt and Dr. Wei Li, and my committee members, Dr. Cecilia Giusti and Dr. Rebekka Dudensing, for their guidance and support throughout the course of this research. I would also like to thank my research supervisor, Dr. Walter Peacock, for his support and encouragement. Thanks also go to my friends and colleagues and the department faculty and staff for making my time at Texas A&M University a great experience. Finally, thanks to my mom, Ok Soon Bae, my dad, Sung Wook Park, my brothers, Min Hyoung Park and Jae Kyoung Park, and my late grandfather and grandmother. v CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES Contributors This work was supervised by a dissertation committee consisting of Dr. Shannon Van Zandt [co-advisor], Dr. Wei Li [co-advisor], and Dr. Cecilia Giusti of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning and Dr. Rebekka Dudensing of the Department of Agricultural Economics. All work for the dissertation was completed by the student, under the advisement of Dr. Shannon Van Zandt and Dr. Wei Li of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning. Funding Sources Graduate study was supported by research and teaching assistantships from Texas A&M University. There are no outside funding contributions to acknowledge related to the research and compilation of this document. vi NOMENCLATURE HCV Housing Choice Voucher HUD Housing and Urban Development FMR Fair Market Rent IL Income Limit HCVW Housing Choice Voucher Waitlist LIHTC Low Income Housing Tax Credit GR General Renter HHA Houston Housing Authority ACS American Community Survey SOI Source of Income vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................ii DEDICATION .................................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... v CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES ............................................................. vi NOMENCLATURE .........................................................................................................vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ x LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................xii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background of Affordable Housing Programs......................................................... 1 1.2 Housing Choice Vouchers ........................................................................................ 3 1.3 Research Purpose ..................................................................................................... 9 1.4 Expected Implications for Policymakers................................................................ 10 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................... 11 2.1 The HCV Program’s Criteria and Residents’ Mobility .......................................... 11 2.2 Neighborhood Quality ............................................................................................ 16 2.3 Objection to Affordable Housing in Neighborhoods ............................................. 26 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ................................................................................... 33 3.1 Research Questions ................................................................................................ 33 3.2 Analysis Framework .............................................................................................. 34 3.3 Potential Issues with the HCV Criteria .................................................................. 39 3.4 Effect of the HCV Program on Residents’ Access to Neighborhood Amenities ... 42 viii 3.5 Dynamics of HCV Recipients’ Location Choices ................................................. 45 3.6 Research Area ........................................................................................................ 47 3.7 Variables and Data Sources.................................................................................... 49 CHAPTER IV HCV TENANTS IN HARRIS COUNTY ............................................... 53 4.1 HCV Household Descriptive Statistics .................................................................. 53 4.2 HCV Households by Race/Ethnicity ...................................................................... 54 4.3 HCV Households by Income.................................................................................. 60 CHAPTER V HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER CRITERIA ......................................... 62 5.1 Fair Market Rents ................................................................................................... 62 5.2 Income Limits ........................................................................................................ 67 5.3 HCV Householders’ Spatial Locations .................................................................. 73 5.4 Constraints of FMRs and ILs in Harris County ..................................................... 76 5.5 Summary: Voucher Criteria ................................................................................... 86 CHAPTER VI NEIGHBORHOOD QUALITY BY RENTER GROUP ......................... 88 6.1 Cluster Analysis ..................................................................................................... 88 6.2 HCV vs. HCVW ..................................................................................................... 97 6.3 HCV vs. LIHTC ................................................................................................... 103 6.4 HCV vs. GR ......................................................................................................... 108 6.5 Summary: Mean Comparison T-test .................................................................... 112 CHAPTER VII ASSOCIATIONS OF HCV HOUSEHOLDS AND NEIGHBORHOOD QUALITY ..................................................................................... 123 7.1 OLS Regression Analysis..................................................................................... 123 7.2 Count Outcome Regression Analysis ................................................................... 125 7.3 Summary: Regression Analysis ........................................................................... 134 CHAPTER