Researchers Explore The Effects Of Section 8 Grants In Houston

Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development gives poor families a housing subsidy, and some people use that money to move to better neighborhoods. New social science research explores the effects of those Section 8 grants and finds something surprising in Houston. Our co-host Rachel Martin spoke about it with NPR's social science correspondent Shankar Vedantam. RACHEL MARTIN, BYLINE: Hi, Shankar. SHANKAR VEDANTAM, BYLINE: Hi, Rachel. MARTIN: What's going on in Houston? VEDANTAM: Well, there is a relationship between Section 8 grants and violent crime that we might not have expected. I was speaking with the economist Jillian Carr at Purdue University. Along with Vijetha Koppa, Carr has studied the effects of these housing grants in Houston. She told me she was hoping to find the vouchers were helping communities. But at least for a subset of recipients, she found something that she found very surprising. JILLIAN CARR: