The Voucher Promise: "Section 8" and the Fate of an American Neighborhood

by Eva Rosen

A must-read for anyone interested in solutions to America's housing crisis.--Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
An in-depth look at America's largest rental assistance program and how it shapes the lives of residents in one low-income Baltimore neighborhood



Housing vouchers are a cornerstone of US federal housing policy, offering aid to more than two million households. Vouchers are meant to provide the poor with increased choice in the private rental marketplace, enabling access to safe neighborhoods with good schools and higher-paying jobs. But do they?

The Voucher Promise examines the Housing Choice Voucher Program, colloquially known as "Section 8," and how it shapes the lives of families living in a Baltimore neighborhood called Park Heights. Eva Rosen tells stories about the daily lives of homeowners, voucher holders, renters who receive no housing assistance, and the landlords who provide housing. While vouchers are a powerful tool with great promise, she demonstrates how the housing policy can replicate the very inequalities it has the power to solve.

Rosen spent more than a year living in Park Heights, sitting on front stoops, getting to know families, accompanying them on housing searches, speaking to landlords, and learning about the neighborhood's history. Voucher holders disproportionately end up in this area despite rampant unemployment, drugs, crime, and abandoned housing. Exploring why they are unable to relocate to other neighborhoods, Rosen illustrates the challenges in obtaining vouchers and the difficulties faced by recipients in using them when and where they want to. Yet, despite the program's real shortcomings, she argues that vouchers offer basic stability for families and should remain integral to solutions for the nation's housing crisis.

Delving into the connections between safe, affordable housing and social mobility, The Voucher Promise investigates the profound benefits and formidable obstacles involved in housing America's poor.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, Urban Planning, Urbanism, Society, Ethnography, Urban Studies

339 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 14, 2020

Reviews

[Sylvan R · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic. It unveils the complexity of providing affordable housing in deeply disadvantaged populations. While it focuses on a housing voucher program, the book is about much more. It is about people. A struggling city. And the politics around housing and poverty in America.

The book is extremely well researched and poignantly presented. It is so well written that I continuously found myself wondering which of the "characters" would emerge as the author's love interest. Of course, they are not characters. And while this is not a novel, the author tells their stories artfully and vividly with astute observations and powerful narrative. An important, interesting, and engaging book from beginning to end. Highly recommended.

[Macy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Would have enjoyed this book more if she reversed the order of the chapters. Also, felt like she’s just using these peoples experiences to make money and increase power. I wish she would have ventured out of one specific, over-policed neighborhood. Claiming that these observations reign true for all voucher programs all over the US is not accurate

[Hindley · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a native of the Baltimore suburbs, this book perfectly articulated my feelings about the city I grew up near: resilient yet fragile with gaping wounds that will continue to fester without policy and social change. Rosen’s writing is rich with anecdotal and statistical detail that extol the strengths and illustrate the weaknesses of the Housing Choice Voucher program. The research is thorough and presented with clarity, and Rosen does not shy away from the brutal truth of our nation’s housing crisis.

[Ally · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the content of this book though I have a few disclaimers. 1. The first chapter feels like a harder read than the rest of the book, so if you're interested, stick to it, because it does get easier & more engrossing. 2. I felt it was a bit repetitive at times but I'm somewhat familiar with the subject. I do wonder whether the repetition was on purpose to help people understand a complex subject. Overall, a very important book on HCVs.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing ethnography. Eva Rosen really goes out of her way to understand the people that make up the neighborhood, giving you points of view from voucher holders, unassisted renters, homeowners, and landlords. The multiple points of view really help paint a comprehensive picture, which is also supported by statistics and other sociological theories.

[Kayla Calkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know much about housing policy and did not know anything about the voucher system. Rosen’s analysis is both technical and personal. It synthesizes the complexities of housing voucher policy while featuring the literal human face of these complex policy outcomes.

[Anneliese · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent overview of a fascinating subject. Expertly blends first person accounts with big picture analysis and policy recommendations.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rosen describes this as an ethnographic study whereby she lived in the Park Heights neighborhood in Baltimore City in order to meet and study housing voucher holders and whether the program affords recipients housing choice and upward mobility as intended. The exploration tackles the inevitable systemic issues at work (exploitation, racism, underfunding, etc.). It felt like a relative slow and repetitive read with the conversations/experiences with landlords actually being more insightful than that of the voucher holders since landlords play such a large role in this environment. I read this for work, so it's possible the feelings of being voluntarily "obligated" to read it may have colored my reading. Her arguments are well-reasoned, the work is quite well-researched, and her prescriptive ideas are broad and well-informed, but without the political and public support for such change, this feels like a problem that is only going to get worse.

[dB · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pet peeve of mine in nonfiction books is excessive repetition. And this one had even more than most. I could've read the final chapter and gleaned everything I wanted from this book. And as for ethnographies, Eviction does a better job at expressing the personal struggles of poor people in securing housing.

[Jean Cochrane · Rating 5 out of 5]

you know a book about housing is going to be good when the ethnographer interviews the landlords… many compelling examples in here that demonstrate how unconscionable it is that section 8 is not an entitlement

[KinDyl Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ a bit repetitive towards end

[Savannah Minnick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is valuable information but it got a little repetitive.

[Destiny Fava · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that explains the nuance of section 8 / subsidized housing. It showcases how "pulling yourself from your bootstraps" is near impossible for some people.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most academic books, it's repetitive and could have been cut by a third. And some of the recommendations are a little knee-jerk like government should invest more in poor communities. But it's valuable because of the insights drawn from spending time with poor residents of Park Heights and how they and their neighbors perceive voucher holders and the effect of the voucher policy.

[Kirra Ortiz · Rating 3 out of 5]

so informative of todays living orders and civilian struggles 🌈