Federal Rental Assistance: Markets, Mobility, and Well-Being

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Federal rental assistance is a central component of the U.S. safety net, yet important questions remain about how these programs function across changing market conditions, interact with other forms of public support, and shape long-term outcomes for children and families. This panel assembles four papers that offer new evidence on the consequences of rental assistance policy design, with particular attention to the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. Taken together, the papers illuminate how rental assistance affects not only housing stability, but also participation in other safety net programs, access to higher-opportunity neighborhoods, program performance during periods of market upheaval, and children’s trajectories into adulthood.

The first paper examines the relationship between housing assistance and disability income support, asking whether expanded voucher access affects participation in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Exploiting quasi-experimental variation in voucher supply generated by changes in Housing Choice Voucher rental ceilings, the authors find that increased voucher utilization reduces applications to both disability programs and lowers SSI enrollment. The findings suggest meaningful substitution between housing and cash-based disability supports, with implications for the economic well-being of individuals with disabilities and for total federal spending across programs.

The second paper studies how vouchers operate when private rental markets are under extreme stress. Using the sharp rent increases of 2021 and 2022, the authors document substantial declines in voucher lease-up rates, longer housing searches, worsening overcrowding, and rising program costs, particularly for new voucher recipients and in the highest-rent markets. The paper also evaluates policy flexibilities—including MTW authority, expedited payment-standard waivers, and revised rent-setting methods—and shows that these tools helped some housing agencies maintain or recover program effectiveness.

The third paper evaluates whether Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs) improve access to high-opportunity neighborhoods. Using the staggered implementation of SAFMRs across mandated metropolitan areas, the authors show that increasing rent ceilings in higher-cost neighborhoods led voucher households, particularly families with children, to move to areas served by higher-performing schools. The effects grow over time, suggesting that targeted payment standard reforms can meaningfully expand residential access to opportunity.

The final paper examines the long-run effects of rental assistance received during childhood. Leveraging linked administrative data and variation in the age at which children enter public housing or begin receiving vouchers, the study estimates the effects of additional years of assistance on economic and social outcomes in early adulthood, while also exploring heterogeneity across programs and local contexts.

Collectively, these papers position rental assistance as a policy domain with broad consequences for household stability, public program participation, neighborhood attainment, and intergenerational mobility. The panel highlights the importance of policy design and local market context in determining how effectively rental assistance promotes economic security and opportunity.

Policy Area

• Housing, Community Development, and Urban Policy

Chair

• Katherine O'Regan, New York University

Discussants

• Ryan Finnigan, University of California, Berkeley

• Elizabeth C. Rudd, U.S. Housing and Urban Development

Organizer

• Susha Bentley Roy, RAND Corporation

Individual Presentations

• Public Housing Assistance and Social Security Disability Program Participation: Do Housing Vouchers Crowd Out Disability Payments? - Presenting Author: Philip Armour, RAND School of Public Policy

• Do housing vouchers work when rental markets don’t? Demand-side assistance amid extreme rental shocks - Presenting Author: Sarah Strochak, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• The Impact of Small Area Fair Market Rents on Access to High Opportunity Areas - Non-Presenting Co-Author: Jason Michael Ward, University of Illinois, Chicago; Presenting Author: Jason Ward, RAND Corporation; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Susha Bentley Roy, RAND Corporation

• The Effects of Rental Assistance on Children's Early Adulthood Outcomes - Presenting Author: Raheem Chaudhry, University of Washington