Sandra J. Newman

... And a Suitable Living Environment: The Failure of Housing Programs to Deliver on Neighborhood Quality

Abstract This article evaluates the relative performance of housing programs in terms of neighborhood quality. We profile neighborhood characteristics surrounding assisted housing units and assess the direction of assisted housing policy in light of this information. The analysis relies on a housing census database we developed that identifies the type and census tract location of assisted housing units—that is, public housing, developments assisted under the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Section 515 Rural Rental Housing Direct Loan Program, the low‐income housing tax credit, certificates and vouchers, and state rental assistance programs. We conclude that project‐based assistance programs do little to improve the quality of recipients’ neighborhoods relative to those of welfare households and, in the case of public housing, appear to make things significantly worse. The certificate and voucher programs, however, appear to reduce the probability that families will live in the most econo...

Homeownership for the Poor in Distressed Neighborhoods: Does This Make Sense?

Abstract Several recent studies have found that homeownership has positive effects on childrens development. This article extends these studies by testing whether these effects depend on neighborhood conditions. This extension is important because many low‐income families that become homeowners under current policies promoting homeownership for the poor are likely to purchase homes in troubled or distressed neighborhoods. Homeownership in almost any neighborhood is found to benefit children, while neighborhood effects are weak. This suggests that the children of most low‐income renters would be better served by programs that help their families become homeowners in their current neighborhoods instead of helping them move to better neighborhoods while remaining renters. However, the positive effects of homeownership on children are weakened in distressed neighborhoods, especially those that are residentially unstable and poor. Thus, helping low‐income families purchase homes in good neighborhoods is likely to have the best effects on children.

Housing Affordability and Children's Well-Being: Evidence from the National Survey of America's Families

Abstract Affordability is a major housing problem for many families. However, no research has documented the harmful effects of unaffordable housing on children. It could hurt poor children by restricting the consumption of other basic necessities or stressing parents’ emotional reserves. This article takes a first look at whether poor children living in areas with more affordable housing fare better than their counterparts in less affordable areas. Results suggest that they do. But some models also suggest that the best educational outcomes are found in the most and least affordable housing markets, the latter likely because of unmeasured variables. Affordable housing has a stronger impact on older children than on younger ones, indicating that the effects may be cumulative. Consistent with studies on the effects of income, affordability appears to affect poor childrens well‐being primarily through its impact on the material consumption of basic necessities when they are young.

Housing and Poverty

A major goal of social programs in a time of fiscal austerity is to focus available assistance on those households in the greatest need. This seemingly simple dictum has become increasingly difficult to follow as the dynamics of poverty have been clarified through analysis of longitudinal panel data in recent years. We can illustrate the importance of these dynamics using the following findings about the future incomes of the 22 million people in poverty in 1967.

Last in Line: Housing Assistance for Households with Children

Abstract This article examines the relationship between receipt of different types of rental housing assistance and housing outcomes for households with children. We rely on the 1989 American Housing Survey (AHS) and a special data supplement that attempted to accurately categorize every assisted renter‐occupied address in the AHS sample as either public housing; privately owned, federally assisted housing; or certificates and vouchers. Housing outcomes examined are physical condition of the unit, crowding, affordability, perceived neighborhood quality, and crime. We analyze three research questions: (1) Do the characteristics of households enrolled in housing programs differ by program type? (2) Do housing outcomes differ with the type of assistance received? (3) Do differences in household characteristics account for observed differences in program outcomes? The analysis suggests that the housing assistance system channels different types of households with children into different housing programs. The ...

The Effects of Homeownership on Children's Outcomes: Real Effects or Self‐Selection?

This article examines whether there is a “homeownership effect” for lower‐income racial and ethnic groups who have been the target of public policies to expand homeownership. We use two different methods to account for selection, statistical matching and instrumental variable analysis; test direct and indirect (mediator) effects of homeownership on childrens cognitive achievement, behavior problems and health using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its Child Development Supplement; and replicate the main effects tests using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We find little evidence of beneficial homeownership effects and suggest that previous analyses may have mistaken selection differences for the effect of homeownership itself.

COMMUNICATING HEALTH INFORMATION TO DISADVANTAGED POPULATIONS

Interest in the communication of health information among disadvantaged populations has increased in recent years with the shift from a model of patient–provider communication to one of a more empowered healthcare consumer; with the use of new communication technologies that increase the number of channels through which health information may be accessed; and with the steadily increasing number of people without health insurance. Three separate research literatures contribute to our current understanding of this issue. In the medicine and public health literature, disparities in health access and outcomes among socioeconomic, ethnic, and racial groups are now well documented. In the information sciences literature, scholars note that on a continuum of health information behaviors, ranging from information avoidance and nonseeking to active seeking, nonseeking behaviors are associated with disadvantaged populations. In the communication literature, enthusiasm over the technology-driven growth of online health information seeking is tempered by evidence supporting the knowledge gap hypothesis, which indicates that as potential access to health information increases, systematic gaps in health knowledge also increase as groups with higher socioeconomic status acquire this information at a faster rate than those with lower socioeconomic status. A number of diverse strategies show promise in reducing information and health disparities, including those that focus on technology, such as programs to increase computer and Internet access, skills, and comprehension; those that focus on interpersonal communication, such as the community health worker model; and those that focus on mass media channels, such as entertainment education.

The housing and neighborhood conditions of America's children: patterns and trends over four decades

This paper uses national and metropolitan area data from American Housing Surveys over four decades to examine the patterns and trends in the housing and neighborhood circumstances of children. Children across the income distribution have experienced dramatic improvements in the physical adequacy of their dwellings and in crowding but significant deterioration in housing affordability. Poor children are often in greatest jeopardy, with the rate of complaints about crime 25 percent higher in 2005 than in 1975, and the rate of school complaints twice as high in 2005 than 1975. Poor children also experience little payoff from residential mobility in terms of physical dwelling adequacy, crowding, affordability, or adequacy of schools, though moves are associated with fewer complaints about crime. However, it is the near poor – those between 101–200 percent of poverty – and not the poor who appear to be most affected by the tightness or looseness of the housing market.

GEOGRAPHIC DIFFERENCES IN HOUSING PRICES AND THE WELL‐BEING OF CHILDREN AND PARENTS

ABSTRACT: This article contributes to the ongoing discussion about whether the official poverty measure should be adjusted for geographic differences in the cost of living (COL). Part of the support for spatial COL adjustments is the concern that the reduced purchasing power of the poor in higher-priced areas could jeopardize the health and well-being of children and parents. The results of this analysis of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its Child Development Supplement do not support this view. We find that children growing up in higher-priced housing markets appear to fare no worse than those in lower-priced markets.

Recipients of housing assistance under welfare reform: Trends in employment and welfare participation

Abstract Between 1994 and 2001, the employment of low‐skilled single mothers increased dramatically and the welfare rolls shrank. Did these gains extend to single mothers who received federal housing assistance? This question is important because these women constitute a large, highly disadvantaged group and because housing assistance may work at cross‐purposes to welfare reform by fostering dependency on public support. The prospect of deep cuts in housing programs adds to the timeliness of this research. We find that employment increased as much for single mothers who received housing assistance as for those who did not. Although welfare participation appears to have declined somewhat less for single mothers getting housing assistance, this may be due to inadequate data. Demographic differences do not appear to matter. Gains from increased employment more than offset welfare losses, for an estimated annual net savings of approximately