An Analysis of the Secondary Outcomes of Federal Housing Assistance

This paper explores the relationship between different types of federal housing assistance and the secondary outcomes of children’s health and education. With almost three million people nationwide receiving federal housing assistance from either traditional housing projects or Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, it is imperative to analyze the indirect effects of receiving assistance. I will analyze the ancillary effects of access to health care, child’s physical health, child’s emotional health, and child’s attachment to education by using data from the National Survey of America’s Families. By comparing only those eligible for Department of Housing and Urban Development housing assistance programs, I will be able to control for a number of potentially confounding factors such as income level. Analyzing indirect effects on the children receiving government assistance avoids the probable reverse causation of education level achieved and poor health by adults who now receive federal housing assistance. I expect that those who receive Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers will have better access to care, health, and education than those in traditional public housing. I believe this will be due to the ability for those with vouchers to move to a neighborhood of their choice, whereas, those in traditional public housing are forced to live in neighborhoods with higher concentrations of poverty and its ancillary effects of poor schools, reduced access to health care, and reduced access to fresh produce. However, contrary to my expectations those in traditional public housing fared better on each of the outcomes than those receiving Section 8 Vouchers. It is important to note that while the results were statistically significant, they were not large enough to be practically significant.