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Discrimination in awarding Section 8 housing describes alleged or confirmed cases of illegal discrimination in the housing market of the United States of America, "Section 8" being a portion of a 1937 law that provides financial assistance for housing costs several million low-income Americans. Advocates argue that "racial and economic segregation" in Section 8 housing is "a major problem". In 1968, Congress enacted the Fair Housing Act (FHA) as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 to combat racial segregation.〔Pub. L. No. 90-284, tit. VIII, 82 Stat. 73, 81-89 (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601-3631 (2006)).〕 In 1974, to further combat the concentration of poverty and racial segregation in housing, the government developed the Section 8 Housing Voucher Program (now known as the Housing Choice Voucher Program), which supplies vouchers to low-income tenants to assist with rental payments.〔Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, Pub. L. No. 93-383, 88 Stat. 633 (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. § 5301 (2006)).〕 Yet, despite receiving vouchers to help with rental payments, participants in the program are said to still experience substantial difficulties obtaining housing. A noticeable "disparate impact" within the Section 8 Housing Voucher Program has been noted by Rotem (2010).〔Rebecca Rotem, "Using Disparate Impact Analysis in Fair Housing Act Claims: Landlord Withdrawal from the Section 8 Voucher Program," 78 Fordham L. Rev. 1971, 1972, (2010).〕 Under the Section 8 Housing Voucher Program, participants can use the voucher to pay a portion of their rent. However, participation in the Section 8 Housing Voucher Program is voluntary for landlords.〔See Graoch Assocs. #33 v. Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Human Relations Comm'n, 508 F.3d 366, 376 (6th Cir. 2007).〕 Landlords participating in the program are free to withdraw for many reasons. According to the Fair Housing Act. 42 U.S.C. § 3604, a landlord's withdrawal for reasons associated with their tenant's "race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin" would be an (illegal) act of discrimination.〔42 U.S. Code § 3604 - Discrimination in the sale or rental of housing and other prohibited practices〕 As neighborhoods have gentrified, holders of housing vouchers may find that property owners who might have taken their vouchers in the past are now turning them away.〔Manny Fernandez, "Despite New Law, Subsidized Tenants Find Doors Closed," N.Y. Times, Sept. 20, 2008, at B1.〕 == Background == There are more than two million households in the United States that participate in the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program (the Section 8 voucher program) to afford privately owned rental housing.〔Bruce Katz & Margery Austin Turner, "Rethinking U.S. Rental Housing Policy: A New Blueprint for Federal, State, and Local Action", in ''Revisiting Rental Housing: Policies, Programs, and Priorities'' 319, 319 (Nicolas P. Retsinas & Eric S. Belsky eds., 2008).〕 The Section 8 Program provides rent subsidies to low income families who then seek out participating landlords who will rent out property to them. Thus, the Section 8 Program is designed to reduce the barriers to obtain affordable housing for people with low incomes. There are many landlords across the country participating in this program to offer low-income families an opportunity to choose housing outside of public housing.〔 Under this program, the Federal government provides rent subsidies to eligible low-income families who rent from participating landlords. Local Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) manage and administer the Section 8 voucher program in conjunction with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).〔Evan Anderson, "Vouching for Landlords: Withdrawing from the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program and Resulting Disparate Impact Claims," 78 U. Cin. L. Rev. 371, 375 (2009).〕 The PHAs issue vouchers to qualifying families who then independently find suitable rental housing from private owners and landlords who voluntarily take part in the program. In order to participate in the program, landlords must meet basic housing quality standards, and must rent at rates within fair market guidelines set by HUD and the local PHA.〔Sean Zielenbach, Moving Beyond the Rhetoric: Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program and Lower-Income Urban Neighborhoods, 16 J. Affordable Housing & Community Dev. L. 9, 10 (2007).〕 When a Section 8 voucher participant rents from a participating landlord, the local PHA “pays the difference between the household’s contribution (set at 30 percent of income) and the total monthly rent.” 〔 The Section 8 voucher program does not set a maximum rent, but participants must pay the difference between the calculated subsidy and actual rent.〔 Landlords receive the subsidy directly from the PHAs. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Discrimination in awarding Section 8 housing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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