Can Housing Vouchers Improve Student Outcomes in Restrictive Markets? Evidence from Houston

• In Event: Comparative-Historical Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Comparative-Historical Roundtable 4

Abstract

The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program is the largest federal low-income housing subsidy in the United States. While a growing body of research examines the educational consequences of housing assistance, existing studies overwhelmingly focus on northeastern and midwestern cities, limiting their applicability to the rapidly growing southern Sun Belt metros that now serve a disproportionate share of low-income renters and voucher holders. This study addresses this gap by examining HCV's causal impact on student outcomes in Houston, Texas—a city characterized by a deregulated housing market and a policy environment in which landlords may legally refuse voucher holders.

We link administrative data from the Houston Housing Authority and the Texas Education Agency (2000–2022), supplemented by records from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and Texas Workforce Commission. Our sample consists of K–12 students whose households received vouchers following waitlist openings in 2006, 2012, and 2016. For time-varying outcomes, we implement the Callaway and Sant'Anna (2021) difference-in-differences estimator using not-yet-treated recipients as the comparison group. For one-time outcomes such as graduation, we estimate OLS models measuring effects of exposure duration and age at receipt. All models include birth year fixed effects and demographic controls.

We find no significant effects on test scores, with event-study estimates showing no improvement over time. However, voucher receipt leads to significant reductions in disciplinary incidents: recipients are 2.7 percentage points less likely to receive disciplinary action (mean: 22.3%), with effects emerging in the first year and growing larger two to three years post-receipt. These behavioral gains translate into higher graduation rates, with students receiving vouchers before age 12 showing a 4.6 percentage point increase.

Authors

• Hojung Lee, Rice University

• Anna Rhodes, Rice University

• Jeremy E. Fiel, Rice University

• Jiaxin Li

• Rui Zeng