A federal program that gives low-income families vouchers to support their rent payments. Although the program remains very controversial, it is essentially the only large-scale housing support the federal government currently gives to low-income Americans, and Rothstein emphasizes that the program is far too small to reach the number of people who need and apply for assistance. Families who rent apartments using Section 8 vouchers face a number of problems: landlords can legally discriminate against them, for instance, and in almost all cases Section 8 vouchers do not provide families with enough funds to rent in middle-class or integrated neighborhoods, which Rothstein argues is crucial to achieve housing justice and desegregate American cities over the long term.
Get the entire The Color of Law LitChart as a printable PDF.
Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program Term Timeline in The Color of Law
The timeline below shows where the term Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program appears in The Color of Law. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 11: Looking Forward, Looking Back
...construct housing for low-income families, but they nearly always do so in already-segregated neighborhoods. Similarly, Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers are insufficient to cover residents’ costs in anywhere but the poorest neighborhoods....
(full context)
Chapter 12: Considering Fixes
...pushed for integration. After losing a lawsuit, Baltimore’s local government started giving a comparatively higher Section 8 subsidy to African American people who rent in integrated, middle-class neighborhoods, and it also provides...
(full context)
...should follow some model cities and states that ban landlords from discriminating against families with Section 8 vouchers. He also notes that only a small portion of the people who qualify for...
(full context)
