Factors Predicting Residential Mobility among the Recipients of the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program

Background and Objectives:

The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program is the largest low-income federal housing program providing services to nearly 1.8 million households nationwide (HUD, 2006). One of the program's policy goals is to promote “mobility” among the recipients enabling them to select housing and neighborhoods of their choice (U.S. House, 2003). Residential mobility is defined as a move from one residence to another (Crull & Winter, 1976) and prior studies have found that Blacks are more mobile than Whites (Hansen, 2001), females more than males (Kerbow, 1996), mobility decreases with age (Hansen, 2001) and higher incomes (Schachter & Kuenzi, 2002), and a change to the number of household members may spur residential mobility (Crowder, 2001). The objectives of this study include: (1) exploring the individual-level factors that predict mobility among the recipients of the HCV program; and (2) including four variables, not previously considered, into the equation: an increase and decrease in Fair Market Rent (FMR) and an increase and decrease in Total Tenant Payment (TTP), which financially impacts recipients.

Methods:

The population consisted of 14,659 recipients, from the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority, who were in the program between the years 1999-2005. A stratified random sample was selected (N=1000) consisting of an equal number of males, females, Black and Whites. An ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was used to test the relationship between individual level variables and residential mobility. The independent variables included race (Black = 1), gender (Male = 1), age, number in family, annual income, total increase in FMR, total decrease in FRM, total increase in TTP, and total decrease in TTP. The dependent variable, residential mobility, is a ratio of the number of moves divided by the number of years in the program.

Results:

The mean age was 45 years, mean number in family was 2.27, and mean annual household income was $9,799.54. Black females had the highest mean number of moves (0.94) followed by White females (0.58), Black males (0.48), and White males (0.31). The overall regression model is significant (p<.01; R˛ = .456). Race, age, gender, increase in TTP, increase in FMR, and decrease in FMR were significant at p<.01 and number in family at p<.05. A decrease in FMR had the greatest influence on residential mobility (β = .212) followed by age (β = -.181), increase in FMR (β = .135), increase in TTP (β = .125), gender (β = -.115), race (β = .098), and number in family (β = .074). Conclusion and Implications:

This study found three new variables (increase in FMR, decrease in FMR, and increase in TTP) that contribute to HCV recipients' residential mobility. Implications for policy and administrative practice include stablization of FMRs and TTPs in order to reduce financial disruption and unintentional mobility, and an exploration of housing counseling services in order to best match recipients' wants and needs with housing outcomes. Future research should continue to explore variables that affect specific populations in order to fully understand the factors that impact residential mobility.