Landlords and access to opportunity

A family can use a housing voucher to move to opportunity only if a landlord in an opportunity neighborhood accepts the voucher. Most landlords in opportunity neighborhoods, though, avoid voucher tenants. We examine a policy change that increases voucher rental payment limits only in high-rent neighborhoods. While the policy induces some new voucher holders to move into high-rent neighborhoods, most landlords do not change their screening behavior in response to the policy. Those landlords who do respond are few and operate at a surprisingly small scale. A sustainable policy of moving to opportunity requires more direct engagement with landlords.