The economics of Housing & Homelessness

Overview

Current Needs

Underlying Root Causes

Food

Shelter

Health Care

SNAP

WIC

TANF

Medicaid

HUD Housing Choice Vouchers

Supplemental Security Income and Disability Insurance

Programs

Lacking human, physical social capital

The Status Quo

$670 Billon per year

Results

• Full-time employment increased by 25%

Program costs $22,950

Examples

"When K first joined Padua, she was a stay-at-home mom and her undocumented husband worked as a cook in area restaurants. They struggled to make ends meet as her husband was poorly paid. K’s goal was to work to help the family financially, but she did not have a college degree and her earning potential was limited. K had started at a local community college but never graduated and used up all the education subsidies available to her so she could not afford school. Her previous experience in college generated a lack of confidence that stood in the way of her acquiring more skill. Her case management team worked with her extensively to get her to a point where she was ready for training and employment. During that time, the case management team at times provided financial assistance to help with rent and expenses, always with a plan in place as to how these expenses were to be paid the next month. An education specialist working for CCFW helped K enroll in a medical assistant program and prepared K to apply. The case management team arranged for a local charity to pay for K’s tuition, and Padua paid for school supplies. K graduated with a medical assistant’s degree and is working in a job she finds rewarding. The household’s earnings now place them well above the poverty line for their family."

"When M first enrolled in Padua, his son had just had a health crisis that required emergency surgery that devastated the family financially. Because of these expenses, they could not pay their rent and were evicted. They found a temporary residence with family but this was a 90-minute commute from M’s job. M was stressed, overwhelmed, frustrated, and near hopeless. The case management team helped M create a budget to save resources to settle his outstanding debts. Using these savings and some financial assistance from Padua, a CCFW Housing Specialist helped M though the process of having his landlord dismiss his previous eviction. This allowed M to obtain a lease on an apartment much closer to his work and stabilize his housing situation. M now has a lease in his name and the case management team continues to work with M on his family’s budget."

"J was working in law enforcement, but a workplace injury placed him on workers’ compensation for two years. His benefits were expiring and his rehabilitation was unsuccessful at getting him to the point where he could return to his previous occupation. Working with his case management team, they identified commercial driving as an occupation J would both enjoy and could work in with his injuries. While he worked part time as a security guard, J enrolled in a six-week training course to obtain a commercial driver’s license. The Texas Workforce Commission funded his schooling and Padua provided assistance for J to help him financially while he was in school and searching for work. J is now working full-time as a commercial driver in a job that frequently offers over-time hours."

Implementation

Pauda

Context

• Implemented by Catholic Charities Fort Worth 

• Targets individuals who have the potential to be self-sufficient

(Isn't designed to serve individuals with mental health, substance abuse or other disabilities)

• Out-of-poverty benchmarks

(a) Living Wage, (b) Reduced participation in transfer programs (c) decreasing debt (d) saving goals

• Case Management with small case loads

Program

• Flexible financial assitance

"The case management teams frequently use the financial assistance component as a way of incentivizing behavior."

*I made the word cloud

Initial Assessment takes place over 5-7 in person meetings 

Design

• Less than 15% is eligible

• 40% Eligible participated

It would be great to know a bit more about what it means to exit a program

Clearly a time intensive innitiative

Coordinating services takes up a lot of time

The Rent

It would be great to know what did employment look like prior to the innitiative

Wide Distribution in Amount of Cash

Analysis

Balance Check

Linear Model

Nonparametric Residualized Form

Controls

Age, Race, Gender, Educational Attainment, Marital Status, Employment Status, Earnings, Household Size, cohort, interview month, number of months between baseline interview

Uses post double selection lasso to fit the linear model

• In contrast, the program was less successful after two years at moving earnings for those already working

Why?

Our reading of the situation is that those working are experiencing low earnings because they have low job skills and the intervention is less likely to alter human capital and hence earnings in a two-year period

What about differences between the groups?

Outcomes

Program costs $22,950 per client

Clarifying Questions

Why is the sample size so small?

It's harder to take this full sample outcome serious when the effect on the employed subset is negative

• Could they have weakened the eligibility requirements?

• Could they have nudged some people to enroll?