Vouchering out distressed subsidized developments: Does moving lead to improvements in housing and neighborhood conditions?

When households receive Section 8 vouchers or rent certificates and moderat e amounts of counseling, and have no program requirements dictating where t hey should move, how far will they go and how successful will the moves be? This article offers some answers to these questions by analyzing the exper iences of households relocated from four distressed, privately owned subsid ized developments in Baltimore; Newport News, VA; Kansas City, MO; and San Francisco. Although many of the residents chose to remain in the same area, most of th em improved their situation by moving. However, the majority continued to l ive in racially segregated areas. The moderate relocation counseling that r esidents received had little impact on their housing search and on satisfac tion with their new home. It may be unreasonable to expect households that are given certificates or vouchers to relocate to new or unfamiliar neighbo rhoods without support or without intensive counseling encouraging them to do so.