Comparing Outcomes for Los Angeles County’s HUD-Assisted and Unassisted Welfare Leavers
AbstractUnprecedented declines in welfare caseloads since the passage of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act have caused widespread concern about the circumstances of families leaving the welfare rolls. State, local, and national research has been conducted to describe who leaves welfare, why they leave, and how families cope after leaving. Few studies, however, have looked at the relationship between federal housing assistance and postexit well-being. This article provides Los Angeles County and the broader research community with detailed data on the status and well-being of families leaving welfare with and without housing assistance. The study examines three groups of CalWORKs recipients that stopped receiving welfare in the third quarter of 1998. Two of the groups were receiving federal housing assistance at the time of exit. The study has five main findings. First, assisted and unassisted welfare leavers differed in their demographic characteristics, readiness to work, and work history. Second, although a clear employment advantage was not evident for any one of the housing assistance groups, leavers with tenant-based assistance were somewhat more likely to have the most positive employment-related outcomes. Third, regardless of housing assistance status, most of those who left welfare in the third quarter of 1998 did not return in the year of followup. Assisted leavers with no recent work history were more likely to return to welfare. Fourth, postexit well-being varied by housing assistance status; assisted leavers were more likely than unassisted leavers to be living in poverty and to report food insecurity and hunger. Unassisted leavers, conversely, were more likely to indicate housing hardships such as excess rent burden and unmet medical needs. Fifth, the mobility choice inherent in Section 8 housing does not necessarily place tenants in safer neighborhoods. The study highlights some important similarities and differences among former welfare recipients exiting the rolls with and without federal housing assistance. To date, limited information is available on how receipt of housing assistance interacts with postwelfare outcomes, and the Los Angeles study provides some initial insights on key outcomes for groups in different housing statuses. Policymakers might want to pay special attention to the lower levels of employment and earnings among the populations receiving either of these two major transfer benefits: welfare and federal housing assistance. Comparing Outcomes for Los Angeles County’s HUD-Assisted and Unassisted Welfare Leavers (*.pdf)
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