Housing
The Link Between Housing Vouchers and Gun Violence
A new report out of New Orleans shows that children living in voucher-assisted households are more likely to live in violent neighborhoods.
Housing vouchers allow the federal government to offer quality homes to low-income families. Allocation of the vouchers has expanded tremendously in the post-public housing landscape. Research shows, however, that in cities including New Orleans, vouchers have mostly reshuffled poor families to other impoverished neighborhoods.
A report from The Data Center of New Orleans last year showed that most families currently using housing vouchers in the city live in highly racially segregated, low-income neighborhoods, as was the case even before Hurricane Katrina. The vouchers have seemingly done little to improve the lives of the poorest households.