Edgar O. Olsen
Catherine A. Tyler
Jonathan W. King
Paul E. Carrillo
University of Virginia, Department of Economics

This article uses administrative data on nonelderly, nondisabled households that received U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rental assistance between 1995 and 2002 combined with data from other sources to estimate the effect of low-income housing programs on these households' labor earnings and employment. Using longitudinal data to explain the change in these measures of market labor supply makes it possible to account for immutable, unobservable household characteristics that are determinants of market labor supply and correlated with program participation. Employing a large random sample of households throughout the country makes it possible to produce estimates of the national average effect of each type of housing assistance. Using administrative data makes it possible to identify accurately the type of housing assistance received. The results indicate that each broad type of housing assistance has substantial negative effects on labor earnings that are somewhat smaller for tenant-based housing vouchers than for either type of project-based assistance. They also suggest that participation in the little-used Family Self-Sufficiency program, an initiative within the public housing and housing voucher programs to promote self-sufficiency, significantly increases labor earnings.

The Effects of Different Types of Housing Assistance on Earnings and Employment