ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
You may have heard how lots of cities have been giving people cash to fight poverty. Well, now the federal government is exploring doing that on a far bigger scale to help people pay rent. It could mean a major shakeup for the federal housing voucher program, which has been around for 50 years. NPR's Jennifer Ludden explains.
JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: There are not nearly enough housing vouchers for everyone who qualifies, and some wait years for them. When Elizabeth Alvandi finally got one, she drove to Massachusetts to try and find an apartment near her aging dad.
ELIZABETH ALVANDI: I'm sleeping in my car and doing the best I can to make the most of every moment that I'm there.
LUDDEN: But for three months, she was rejected again and again or told nothing was available.
ALVANDI: There were a couple conversations that just ended when they asked what my income was and how I'd be paying for it.
LUDDEN: No one said it was because of her voucher. In fact, discriminating like that is illegal in more than 20 states, and yet, like 40% of all people who get housing vouchers, Alvandi could not find a landlord to take it.
PRESTON PRINCE: The underlying problem that we're facing is just because you get a voucher allocated to you does not mean you get to use it.
LUDDEN: Preston Prince heads the Santa Clara County Housing Authority in California. He says landlords are put off by things like inspections to make sure their property is safe, which can drag on weeks or months. He's pushed for a different way, even though it feels risky to tinker with a program that does help 5 million Americans.
PRINCE: You know, I've dedicated 35 years of my career to housing and, you know, asking that question of, like, have we been doing it wrong is a little scary, right?
LUDDEN: Philadelphia is already testing that question by giving cash directly to 300 renters. Other pandemic cash aid programs boosted interest in the idea, and the tight housing market has made it even tougher for voucher holders. This summer, the Department of Housing and Urban Development called for more pilot programs on paying renters directly.
BRIAN MCCABE: There are some tricky things that agencies will have to go through when they do this.
LUDDEN: Brian McCabe of Georgetown University says a key goal with cash is getting people housed faster. But then what about those mandatory inspections? He worked on this during a recent stint at HUD and says maybe renters could do it themselves.
MCCABE: We might have a checklist and say, these are the things I'm looking for. It may be that I move in with cash, and then after I've moved in, the agency comes and does an inspection.
LUDDEN: And maybe that inspection is over video, like by Zoom. James Riccio with the research group MDRC is helping design one pilot program. It needs more funding, but so far has signed up six housing agencies across the country. They hope to find out, does cash help more people find a place? Will it let them move to better neighborhoods?
JAMES RICCIO: Will the whole process of leasing up happen more quickly, which could save time and money for the housing authority and certainly for tenants as well?
LUDDEN: So a bold new move for the federal housing agency, except it turns out HUD actually tested giving renters cash way back in the '70s. A few years ago, someone came across old reports on it.
SOLOMON GREENE: It's taken us 50 years to come back to it and really experiment with it once again.
LUDDEN: Solomon Greene helps develop policy at HUD. He says these new tests will take years. And if HUD ever does want to switch from paying landlords to paying tenants, it would need congressional authority. For now, he says, housing vouchers will continue to be a lifeline for the millions of people who depend on them.
GREENE: Your cost burden goes down. You are more likely to be able to stay in your unit longer. There's a rich body of research showing that vouchers are the most effective way of preventing recidivism or returns to homelessness.
LUDDEN: Could giving renters cash do all that?
GREENE: I underscore, italicize - plausibly, we don't know.
LUDDEN: HUD won't make any changes, Greene says, until there's evidence they work. Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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