An article published in Social Problems, “‘The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease’: Rental Assistance Applicants’ Quests for a Rationed and Scarce Resource,” documents various challenges faced by applicants for federal housing assistance programs. These challenges include complex and time-consuming application and waiting list processes, as well as burdensome prioritization systems that often require applicants to advocate for their deservingness. The challenges are especially pronounced for applicants with criminal records and those who are experiencing homelessness or housing instability. The authors argue that their findings indicate a need to reduce administrative barriers to assistance and call for universal rental assistance for all eligible households.
To conduct their study, the authors used data from the Justice, Housing, and Health Study, which interviewed 54 low-income residents of New Haven, Connecticut, in six-month increments between 2017 and 2020. Interview topics included the interviewees’ current and prior housing, criminal justice involvement, economic situation, and health. The authors analyzed all sections of interviews where interviewees discussed rental assistance.
Interviewees reported various challenges with the application and waiting process for rental assistance. These included a lack of clarity about how to access waiting lists, uncertainty about how the lists worked, and frustration with the length of the wait. The complexity of prioritization systems employed by housing authorities also contributed to a lack of transparency and created distrust in the process for some. The authors noted that there was additional uncertainty for those with criminal justice histories, who were unsure how their records would affect their eligibility. This uncertainty deterred some participants from applying in the first place. Those with a criminal record who were found eligible by the housing authorities and received a voucher often faced further barriers to being housed, as landlords denied many applicants with criminal histories.
Once admitted to waiting lists, some participants found monitoring their spot on the list to be labor-intensive. Many described spending time calling or visiting housing authorities in person to actively monitor their status. This was burdensome for some, including those with work obligations, as well as those who did not have stable mailing addresses to receive updates. Some participants also reported that navigating prioritization systems required significant self-advocacy to highlight the precarity of their housing and health circumstances. Further, many needed outside advocates such as case managers, mental health counselors, and medical providers to engage housing authorities on their behalf and certify the participants’ housing needs. The participants did not have uniform success in navigating this process. As the authors note, a third of the participants remained on waitlists despite the fact that almost all experienced extreme housing needs and health issues.
Some participants’ efforts to ensure that they would be assigned priority status had unintended consequences. For instance, some described deciding to live in shelters rather than accept temporary living arrangements available to them. Shelters can certify applicants’ chronically homeless status to housing authorities, thereby giving them priority status, and sometimes have vouchers that are specifically reserved for their residents. This incentivized some to opt for shelters, which were perceived as one of the only pathways to housing assistance, rather than living with friends or relatives. Similarly, some participants applied for disability benefits and entered other health-related programs not because they were interested in receiving services but because they recognized that it was an important avenue for obtaining rental assistance.
The authors recommend removing administrative barriers by simplifying the application process and reducing the need to monitor waitlist status to improve access to rental assistance for those most in need. Further, to address the challenges of navigating prioritization systems, the authors call for policies that guarantee rental assistance for all eligible households.
Read the article at: https://bit.ly/3TNRTXY