Portability Moves in the Housing Choice Voucher Program, 1998-2005

Portability in the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) enables a household to use a voucher issued in one jurisdiction when moving to another jurisdiction where the program is administered by a different local public housing agency. This article reports the results from a study examining portability moves in the HCVP from 1998 to 2005. Using a specially constructed longitudinal data set developed from U.S. Housing and Urban Development administrative records, the study identifies records that represent portability moves and then analyzes household and neighborhood characteristics associated with portability moves. Of the 3.4 million households that received housing assistance in the voucher program from 1998 to 2005, 8.9 percent made a portability move. The rate of portability movers was highest among African-American households (10.3 percent) compared with White households (8.1 percent) and Hispanic households (8.6 percent). Compared with households in the HCVP overall, portability movers are more likely to comprise households with young children and more likely to have a younger head of household. Length of stay in the HCVP is correlated with portability moves, and portability moves are most likely to occur between the fourth and fifth years of HCVP participation. When examining public housing jurisdictions by program costs, three-fifths of portability moves were made to lower cost jurisdictions compared with the originating jurisdiction. The data also show reductions in census tract poverty rates and other neighborhood indicators for households that completed portability moves.