On Wednesday, President Trump announced a new budget proposal and, as with any new budget, there are winners and losers. A proposed $6 billion cut – or 13% of the department’s overall budget – puts the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) into the latter. While these cuts will impact several of HUD’s programs, there are two standouts: the elimination of the Community Development Block Program (CDBG), and the $3 billion – or 8% – cut to the Section 8 rental assistant program. While it is difficult to know who directly benefits from CDBG funding, since they are used to fund a variety of projects from housing and infrastructure to economic development and property acquisition, there is a wealth of data from the U.S. Census Current Population Survey (CPS) on where and who benefits from Section 8 programs. We find that young, urban and African-American households would disproportionately feel the hit from a reduction in Section 8 rental assistance funding.
Who
Using data from the 2016 CPS Annual Social and Economic Supplement, we found that people under the age of 35 make up nearly 60% of voucher holders of Section 8 programs even though they are just 48% of the U.S. population.
When looking at race, about 49% of Section 8 voucher holders are white while 41% are African-American. Though nearly half of voucher holders are white, they make up about 75% of the U.S. population, which means they are underrepresented as voucher holders. On the other hand, African-Americans make up just 13% of the U.S. population, so they are vastly overrepresented as a share of those receiving federal rental assistance. This overrepresentation of African-Americans likely mirror broader socioeconomic disparities between whites and blacks, such as income, homeownership, and education.
Where
Another interesting story emerges when we look at the geographic distribution of where Section 8 voucher holders live. Central city residents – what the CPS-ASEC calls people who live in urban city centers – are overrepresented compared to their U.S. population. Of all voucher holders, about 44% live in central cities, but they only make up about 28% of the population. On the other hand, suburbanites are underrepresented. About 31% of voucher holders live in the suburbs but make up about 45% of the U.S. population. Finally, rural residents are about proportionally represented, making up 14% and 13% of voucher holders and proportion of the U.S. population, respectively.
