Our local public housing authority puts out some figures in its draft FY15 annual report. It looks as though there is a huge amount of inequality. The “about page” says that 5,500 families and individuals receive government-paid-for, government-built-and-operated, or government-subsidized housing in Cambridge, Massachusetts. These housing units include luxury rental apartments with a market value of up to about $60,000 per year (equivalent to more than $100,000/year in pre-tax income).
The annual report (page 36), however, shows that there are 10,442 distinct families and individuals on the waiting list. Thus out of about 16,000 people, approximately one-third receive something worth, on average, perhaps $50,000 per year pre-tax. The remaining two-thirds receive $0.
Who really benefits from this? I submit it is the property owners, who get guaranteed, stable rent arrangements. In the sense that the people getting assistance wouldn’t pay for it normally, it is an artificial inflation of demand.
Some 25 years ago, there used to be rent control in Cambridge. They got ride of it and replaced it with this “hidden” subsidized rent.