Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Despite the existence of federal, state, and local fair housing laws, studies have consistently documented discrimination on the basis of race. Although overt forms of discrimination have declined since the passage of the Fair Housing Act, more subtle forms still persist. Practices such as racial steering and information withholding reinforce segregation by limiting mobility and exacerbate racial wealth gaps by restricting the ability of minorities to accumulate home equity.

The current study is a field experiment to analyze whether discrimination on the basis of race, family structure (i.e. the presence of children and marital status), and/or receipt of a housing voucher (i.e. Section 8) shapes outcomes in the online rental housing market in 30 large cities. The project enhances scholarship on race, family, and segregation by examining a potential mechanism through which spatial and racial inequalities manifest: limited housing mobility due to discrimination. Importantly, because we assess discrimination against voucher recipients, our findings will have direct policy implications as we will assess the efficacy of policies intended to protect voucher holders from discrimination. Although studies have investigated discrimination along one or two dimensions of potential disadvantage, no prior work has simultaneously measured what we propose. This gap in the literature leaves unanswered questions about efficacy and equity in policy implementation for households potentially facing multidimensional discrimination. Furthermore, it is crucial to understand heterogeneity in how voucher recipients experience the search for housing.

Because one of the primary means of improving the life chances of one’s children is moving to a safe neighborhood with rising home values and quality schools, housing discrimination constitutes an important barrier to social mobility. Therefore, developing an intersectional understanding of bias in the housing market will contribute to theories of race, family, and economic status by empirically linking discrimination originating from each identifying characteristic and evaluating the ways in which the real, lived experiences of competing privileges and disadvantages shape disparate outcomes.

Consistent with prior audit studies, results show substantial discrimination against racial minorities, who receive fewer responses from landlords. Family structure also plays a role in shaping discriminatory patterns, as signaling the presence of a husband decreases response rates, while signaling the presence of children increases response rates. Importantly, this study shows that racial disadvantage is compounded by signaling housing voucher receipt, which raises serious concerns about the role of this policy in exacerbating residential segregation and housing opportunity more broadly.