Reforming Housing Assistance

Bibliographic Data

ID5741565
AuthorsRobert Collinson, Ingrid Gould Ellen (0000-0002-6127-633X), Jens Ludwig (0000-0002-2998-1696, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume686
Issue1
Pages250-285
Publication date2019-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7162 • E-ISSN: 1552-3349
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0002716219877801
OpenAlexW2986624841
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited44

This article reviews current federal housing assistance policies and briefly summarizes research evidence about the efficacy of the different programs. We identify three key challenges that these programs face in meeting their stated objectives and suggest strategies for addressing them. The first challenge is the large variation in market conditions across the country, which makes it difficult to design assistance programs that are universally appropriate. We call for adjusting the type of assistance across markets, allowing for a greater match between subsidies and needs. The second set of challenges concerns subsidy generosity, structure, and targeting. The current system provides large subsidies to a small number of low-income households while providing nothing to most. Assuming limited government resources, we call for exploring the impact of more modest or time-limited subsidies to serve more people with more attention to targeting. The third challenge is the relatively poor location of housing in current assistance programs. We suggest strategies to help more assisted families reach high-opportunity areas

Business · Computer security · Economic growth · Economics · Generosity · Government (linguistics) · Key (lock) · Market economy · Political science · Public economics · Set (abstract data type) · Subsidy · Computer Science · Housing Market and Economics · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies