Panel:
Rental Subsidies: Neighborhood Access, Mobility, and Tenant Outcomes
(Housing and Community Development)
Friday, November 13, 2015: 1:30 PM-3:00 PM
Ibis (Hyatt Regency Miami)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
Panel Organizers: Vincent Reina, University of Southern California
Panel Chairs: Michael Liu, Miami Dade County Department of Public Housing and Community Development
Discussants: Michael Lens, University of California, Los Angeles and Deven Carlson, University of Oklahoma
As of 2014, there were over five million government subsidized rental units across the country. Despite the scale and age of these subsidy programs, there are still many questions about whether and how these subsidies affect a household’s choice set, location decision, and outcomes. The papers in this panel provide important insight into the characteristics of the neighborhoods and properties that subsidized households access, whether additional resources in the housing search process affect where subsidized households live, and how rental subsidies, and the loss of a subsidy, affect education and other of outcomes.
The characteristics of federally assisted housing developments and the neighborhoods households can access through place-based subsidy programs or vouchers have implications for the academic outcomes and healthy development of children and the economic opportunities of parents. But do building and neighborhood characteristics and tenant outcomes vary for minority and non-minority households who receive a rental subsidy? Does the loss of a place-based rental subsidy affect the academic outcomes of children? Do households use vouchers to access better schools? If they do, does that translate into better educational outcomes? And do financial rewards and counseling improve the neighborhoods voucher households access?
The papers in this panel identify whether the quality of neighborhoods and the housing stock vary for minority and non-minority households, the impact that the the loss of a rental subsidy has on the academic outcomes of children in these properties, if households are using vouchers to access better schools, and whether additional resources during the search process result in households moving to neighborhoods with higher amenities. Ultimately, the findings in these papers improve our understanding of the neighborhoods subsidized households access, household preferences, and whether rental subsidies truly expands a low-income household’s choice set and improve outcomes.
