Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Roundtable: Housing As a Platform for Economic Mobility

(Housing and Community Development)

Existing research reveals an association between a lack of safe, high quality housing and poor academic and labor market outcomes. But standard housing subsidies may fall short in providing families with a strong platform for economic mobility. What housing policy reforms might better enable subsidized housing residents to advance in school and succeed in the labor market? This roundtable of experts will consider how housing policy can serve as a basis for addressing economic inequality. We review what research evidence tells us about the impacts of housing assistance on education and labor market outcomes; understand the impacts of new programs designed to help subsidized housing residents reach higher-performing schools and achieve higher earnings; and consider the implications of existing evidence for a range of potential new policy innovations. Participants include: Katherine O’Regan, Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; Ingrid Ellen, Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and Director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy; Sandra Newman, Professor of Policy Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and Director of the Center on Housing, Neighborhoods and Communities; James Riccio, Director of Low-Wage Workers and Communities policy at MDRC; and Erika Poethig, Fellow and Director of Urban Policy Initiatives at the Urban Institute.