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Housing Choice Vouchers and the suburbs: A study of the City of Forest Park (and vicinity) and Hamilton County, Ohio

Stahlke, Andrew J.

Abstract Details

2012, MCP, University of Cincinnati, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Community Planning.

Voucher-based low-income housing subsidies were introduced in the United States by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through its Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. Then in 1998, two variations of this Section 8 voucher subsidy were combined into the unified Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. The HCV program directs local housing authorities to select qualified low-income renters and distribute federally funded subsidies directly to their landlords on an individual renter basis. The subsidy level is closely tied to a renter’s income level and varies by renter accordingly.

Much previous research on this topic has focused on how well the HCV program succeeds at deconcentrating poverty and desegregating racial minorities, and whether communities that accept large numbers of voucher residents suffer negative spillover effects as a result. This thesis combines both quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques to examine the HCV program in Hamilton County, Ohio. First, the quantitative portion updates previous studies from 2000 and 2005 that utilized GIS hot spot analysis to investigate spatial distribution of HCV households throughout Hamilton County. This involves repeating the previous studies’ methodology in order to accurately gauge changes in voucher distribution and concentration. Additionally, a contiguous suburban Hamilton County area comprised of parts of Forest Park, Springfield Township and Colerain Township, will be examined in more depth. It is in this location that hot spot analysis revealed a particularly significant HCV concentration in 2005 and again in 2011.

The second part of this thesis is a qualitative analysis based on interviews of key stakeholders in the local administration and implementation of the HCV program, and focuses on the effects within the study area of HCV concentrations, both real and perceived, as well as how the program is administered. The key interview informants include HCV program administrators, city and township administrators, landlords and school officials.

The quantitative and qualitative approaches will combine to render a more complete portrait of HCV program presence within Hamilton County, in the City of Forest Park and within a suburban area of voucher concentration. It will also speak to the interactions between stakeholders at the local level and the metropolitan level, and will tie into the larger stories of inner ring suburban decline within U.S. metropolitan areas and of federal housing subsidy in suburban communities.

David Varady, PhD (Committee Chair)
Xinhao Wang, PhD (Committee Member)
161 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Stahlke, A. J. (2012). Housing Choice Vouchers and the suburbs: A study of the City of Forest Park (and vicinity) and Hamilton County, Ohio [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1337714766

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Stahlke, Andrew. Housing Choice Vouchers and the suburbs: A study of the City of Forest Park (and vicinity) and Hamilton County, Ohio. 2012. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1337714766.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Stahlke, Andrew. "Housing Choice Vouchers and the suburbs: A study of the City of Forest Park (and vicinity) and Hamilton County, Ohio." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1337714766

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)