Study: Children Benefit From Public Housing

Children who spend time in public housing grow up to earn hundreds of dollars more annually than they would have without that aid, new research shows. They are also less likely to be incarcerated.

These are key findings from a new report by the National Bureau of Economic Research that compared results for children in public housing to those living in private housing, both with and without Section 8 vouchers.

The theory is that lifting the stress and labor of meeting private rents from parents allows them to devote more time and attention to their children.

In American politics, prevailing wisdom is to encourage families to move out of public housing and onto Section 8 vouchers, which are used in private buildings. This study didn't find evidence that vouchers are a better solution for children. Prior studies have found they can be, if they allow families to move to neighborhoods with more resources.

The degree to which children benefitted from both forms of housing aid had definite demographic dimensions, the Washington Post reports. Black and Latina girls appeared to benefit most; black boys in the "very poorest" housing projects didn’t appear to benefit at all:

It could be that the familiar critique of public housing — that it concentrates disadvantages geographically, making them more difficult to overcome — is accurate for black boys in the poorest housing developments.