In Metro Atlanta, Housing Help May Mean A Longer Commute
In metro Atlanta, a study showed that people with rental subsidies, like Section 8, had the fewest job options — fewer than people who were even in the same income range but didn’t get government help.
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A lot of workers in metro Atlanta live far from job centers, and a new study finds that’s especially true for people who receive housing assistance from the government.
The Urban Institute report looked at people of different incomes and determined how many jobs were available within about 6 miles of where they lived.
In metro Atlanta, the study showed people with rental subsidies, like Section 8, had the fewest job options — fewer than people who were even in the same income range but didn’t get government help.
This gap in opportunities between low-income people with and without government housing assistance existed in several metros, but the Atlanta area’s mismatch was the third worst of those studied, after New York and Chicago.
“What our research shows is that there is a difference between the neighborhoods that people reach with housing assistance and those that people who are similarly low income reach without it,” said Daniel Teles, one of the report’s authors.
He said that could have to do with where government-subsidized housing is located. In Atlanta, people mainly use Section 8 vouchers, which landlords also may not accept. Recently, the Atlanta City Council voted to make rejecting vouchers a form of housing discrimination.
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