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The study focuses on families in Chicago that applied to receive Section 8 housing vouchers from Chicago Housing Authority Corporation, Inc. (CHAC) in July 1997. All income-eligible applicants were randomly assigned positions on a waiting list in August 1997, and those on the waiting list were offered a voucher when one became available. A total of 82,607 families applied and were determined to be eligible for a voucher based on their income. The first 35,000 applicants were put on an active waiting list, and the first 18,110 were offered a voucher by May 2003 and formed the intervention group for this study. The comparison group included applicants assigned to lottery numbers 35,001 to 82,607, who were informed that they would not receive a housing voucher through CHAC within three years of application. The analysis excluded applicants who were on the active waiting list but were not offered a voucher through CHAC (those assigned to lottery numbers 18,111 to 35,000), as well as applicants who were older than 65, had a self-reported disability, or were living in public housing at the time of the application.
Eligible households applied in July 1997 and were offered vouchers from August 1997 to August 1998; the wait list was interrupted by a lawsuit, but voucher offers resumed in early 2000 and continued through May 2003. Outcomes were examined through the end of 2005.
The National Consortium on Violence Research, the Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research, Smith Richardson Foundation, and the William T. Grant Foundation
The study sample included heads of households who applied for housing vouchers in Chicago, were younger than 65, did not have a self-reported disability, and were not living in public housing at the time of application. The average annual household income was around $14,000 (2007 dollars), and about 41 percent of applicants received Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits at baseline. On average, sample members were 32 years old. The majority (94 percent) were Black, and 88 percent were female. About 9 percent were married, and more than half (57 percent) were employed at baseline. The racial and ethnic categories sum to more than 100 percent because the authors reported race and ethnicity separately; that is, they reported the percent of the sample who were Hispanic or Latino of any race, as well as the percent of the sample who were Black or White.
Chicago Housing Authority Corporation (CHAC)
Housing vouchers had been offered before the program, but the wait list was opened in July 1997 after 12 years of being closed.
Participants were offered a Section 8 housing voucher through CHAC, which they could use to subsidize rent for housing leased in the private market. The voucher value was equal to the difference between either the fair market rent amount or the selected unit's rent (whichever was lower) and 30 percent of the family's adjusted income (income included earnings and TANF benefits but excluded certain other income). The average fair market rent was $12,000 per year, and the average maximum subsidy based on income and fair market rent was $8,265 per year (in 2007 dollars).
Applicants in the comparison group were informed that they would not receive a housing voucher through the CHAC program within three years of application. Families could receive housing vouchers from other sources—for example, if they were eligible based on disability status, ethnicity, or risk of housing issues leading to parent–child separation.
None
Participants could use their housing vouchers indefinitely unless their annual incomes exceeded around $43,000 (in 2007 dollars), at which point the subsidy began phasing out; that is, they received smaller subsidies as their incomes increased.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
The program took place in Chicago, IL.
Residential stability; neighborhood environment