The federal government has 160 different housing programs run by at least six separate departments and more than a dozen independent agencies, observes a report released this week by the Senate Budget Committee. These programs often overlap and there is no effort to test how successful any of them are in accomplishing their objectives. The 160 programs were actually identified in a 2012 GAO report (and listed here by agency).
Click image to download this report.
In a Budget Committee hearing on September 16, University of Virginia economist Edgar Olsen testified that “most current recipients” of federal low-income housing assistance “are served by programs whose cost is enormously excessive for the housing provided.” He recommended phasing out the least-cost-effective ones while retaining the ones that were working the best. Continue reading
