Housing Assistance and Residential Stability among Low-Income Children

Abstract

Low-income families commonly experience residential moves that can have lasting effects on children’s stability and well-being. Housing assistance limits rental payments to a third of families’ incomes, cushioning them from financial shocks and promoting residential stability. Using 39 years of data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this study explores the association between housing assistance and moving among low-income children living in families receiving housing assistance, overall and by housing assistance type, compared to children in families eligible for, but not receiving, assistance. Findings from multivariate regression models show that receiving any housing assistance is associated with not moving, but when examining this association by assistance type, only public housing is associated with not moving. These relationships hold even in conservative fixed effects models. This research illuminates a possible protective role played by housing assistance in preventing residential instability.