Section 8 (housing) - Crime

Crime

Hanna Rosin, an American journalist, argues that Section 8 has led to crime being more evenly spread out across U.S. metropolitan areas without any net decrease. This was the core thesis of her article published in The Atlantic in 2008, in which she linked Section 8 to a crime increase within Memphis, Tennessee. Rosin's article was later criticized by Greg Anrig in an article published on the The American Prospect. In the article, Anrig accuses Rosin of placing an excessive amount of blame on housing policy for the reported increase in crime. The article makes reference to the fact that Rosin never made a conclusive argument that those who participate in Section 8 were responsible for the higher rates of crime, as those who receive housing support are subject to screenings based on drug use and previous criminal activity. Rosin instead relies on a heat map of crime created by Richard Janikowski and Phyllis Betts who are reported to have said they were " amazed -- and deflated -- to see how perfectly the two data sets fit together." Richard Janikowski and Phyllis Betts later disavowed any connection between housing vouchers and increases in crime in the area in a latter Letter to the editor for the Atlantic. Rosin failed to mention that there was a consistent decrease and increase in crime from inner-cities to the inner-ring suburbs across most metropolitan areas due to shifting populations. Anrig argues that economic factors are more likely responsible for Memphis’s increase in crime, as male unemployment almost doubled between the years of 1990 and 2000. Anrig also makes reference to Moving to Opportunity (MTO), a randomized policy experiment. The study concludes that there was no increase in violent crime for the participants of subsidized housing or their surrounding neighborhoods in the five cities tested; Memphis was not a part of the study. Even though the participants were far more likely to stay in poorer areas when given the chance to leave, families still received a modest academic and psychological benefit. In fact, according to a paper prepared for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Office of Policy Development and Research rather than increasing crime, those who use housing vouchers are more likely to move into areas where crime is increasing.