ABSTRACT

An elaborate experimental program of housing allowances was initiated by the federal government in 1970, covering impacts on housing supply and demand, as well as various alternative administrative mechanisms. Housing allowances or "rent certificates" are not new concepts. They have played a role in discussions of housing policies and programs since the debates prior to the passage of the Housing Act of 1937. A shift in housing policy in the direction of housing allowances came in the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1964 when two new housing programs came into existence. The first was the rent supplement program which limited its subsidies to newly constructed or substantially rehabilitated housing but established the principle of income-related subsidies to residents of privately owned housing units. The second program added in 1965 was the Section 23 leased housing program —a program much closer in design to a housing allowance.