The federal rental assistance vouchers known as Section 8 are increasingly putting low-income families into empty homes in the suburbs.
The results have been good for some neighborhoods, where once-vacant and crime-prone houses re now filled with people and pulling in steady rent checks from the government.
"A steadily dropping homeownership rate, 5 million to 11 million more foreclosures in the pipeline, and a raft of investors buying them up have led to a proliferation of rentals in the land of lawns and cul-de-sacs.
But as housing prices keep slipping and the economy remains shaky, there's been another shift as more landlords view the approximately 2 million American families with a Section 8 voucher - which essentially subsidizes fair-market rent for people who can't afford it - as among the best ways to fill an empty house."
Read the full story: Housing vouchers a golden ticket to pricey suburbs
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