Book Talk with Eva Rosen

The Voucher Promise examines the Housing Choice Voucher Program, colloquially known as “Section 8,” and how it shapes the lives of families living in a Baltimore neighborhood called Park Heights. Eva Rosen tells stories about the daily lives of homeowners, voucher holders, renters who receive no housing assistance, and the landlords who provide housing. While vouchers are a powerful tool with great promise, she demonstrates how the housing policy can replicate the very inequalities it has the power to solve.

In Los Angeles, approximately 57,000 households have Housing Choice Vouchers at a cost of $660 million in 2019. The last time the voucher waitlist was opened, for a 10-day period in 2017, the city received 188,000 applications for only 20,000 spots, highlighting the great demand for housing assistance in LA. Vouchers are awarded by lottery to households on the waitlist.

Join the Lewis Center on Sept. 9 for a conversation with Rosen about her new book, the successes and failures of the housing voucher program, and the role vouchers and other forms of housing assistance are playing during the COVID-19 pandemic and looming eviction crisis.

Moderator: Michael Lens
Associate Faculty Director, Lewis Center
Associate Professor, Urban Planning and Public Policy

Eva Rosen is assistant professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. Her research focuses on social inequality in the urban context. In particular, she studies the intersection between poverty and American housing policy. Find her on Twitter @eva_rosen