Study Details | Pathways to Work

90004.02-Study of Moving to O

Study quality: Low

Low

Reason for the rating: This study received a low study quality rating because it is a high-attrition randomized controlled trial that does not adjust estimated impacts for potentially important differences between the intervention and comparison groups.

Intervention: Moving to Opportunity (MTO) Housing Vouchers for Use in Any Neighborhood Plus Mobility Counseling

Population and employment barriers:

Parenting (Parents), Public Benefits Recipients (Public benefits recipients)

Services provided:

Housing supports and subsidies

Setting: Urban only

Study design

Design:

Randomized controlled trial

Study group formation:

Public housing authorities in each city advertised the MTO intervention to potentially eligible families. Families that expressed interest in participating were placed on a waiting list in each intervention site. Waiting list families then received additional information about the study through a series of group orientation sessions, and if still interested in participating, the head of household completed a screener survey and formally consented to participate. MTO administrators reviewed these screeners to identify families eligible for participation (those with at least one child younger than 18 who were also eligible for Section 8 housing vouchers). Eligible families subsequently enrolled in the study and were randomly assigned into one of three intervention conditions; this review focuses on those families randomly assigned to housing vouchers only and families randomly assigned to receiving no intervention services. The proportion of families randomly assigned across conditions changed during the intervention to increase take-up of housing vouchers, which was lower than initially projected. The analyses adjust for changes in the probability of random assignment over time, using sampling weights equal to the inverse of the probability of random assignment to the intervention condition at the time when a given participant was randomly assigned.

Time period of study:

Families were randomly assigned between 1994 and 1997. The final evaluation collected data in 2007.

Pathways only reports results from studies with a study quality rating of high or moderate.

Sample characteristics

At the time of random assignment, all families in the study sample were eligible for Section 8 housing vouchers and had at least one child younger than 18. About 62 percent of the final evaluation sample was African American, and 31 percent was Hispanic or Latino of any race. Just 11 percent of sample members were married. Fifty-five percent of the baseline sample had at least a high school diploma or GED, although 73 percent were unemployed. Seventy-five percent of families received Aid to Families with Dependent Children/Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and 81 percent received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. The average total household income was $12,766 annually. Nearly all adult baseline survey respondents (98 percent) were female.

Sex

Female	92%
Male	8%

Participant race and ethnicity

Black or African American	63%
White, not Hispanic	3%
Hispanic or Latino of any race	30%
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	2%
Unknown, not reported, or other	2%

The race and ethnicity categories may sum to more than 100 percent if the authors reported race and ethnicity separately; in these cases, we report the category White, rather than White, not Hispanic.

Family status

Married	11%
Parents	100%

Participant employment and public benefit status

Were employed	28%
Were unemployed	72%
Public benefits recipients	100%
Had low incomes	100%
Cash assistance recipients	75%

Participant education

Had a high school diploma or GED	60%
Did not have a high school diploma or GED	40%

Intervention implementation

Implementing organization:

State public housing authorities

Intervention services:

Between 1994 and 1998, MTO offered Section 8 housing vouchers to families with low incomes in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York who lived in public housing or private assisted housing projects in high-poverty neighborhoods (defined as census tracts with more than 40 percent of the population living below poverty) and who had at least one child younger than 18. Private assisted housing projects are rental housing built by private owners through federal programs that required them to price some units to be affordable to people with low incomes. The vouchers could be used without any geographical restriction. Intervention participants were required to observe Section 8 policies that limit the amount of time voucher recipients have to secure housing, require voucher recipients to contribute 30 percent of their adjusted income to rent, and prohibit illegal drug use or alcohol abuse.

Mandatory services:

None

Comparison services:

Families with low incomes in the comparison condition were offered neither Section 8 housing vouchers for private housing in low-poverty neighborhoods nor counseling services or special housing search assistance (the latter was tested in a study reviewed separately by the Pathways Clearinghouse). Comparison group families were not prohibited from continuing to receive housing assistance for public or private assisted housing in high-poverty neighborhoods. Like families in the intervention condition, those in the comparison condition had at least one child younger than 18 when the intervention began.

Study publications

Gardiner, Karen, Karin Martinson, and Samuel Dastrup (2021). Instituto del Progreso Latino’s Carreras en Salud program: Three-year impact report, OPRE Report #2021-97, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/report/instituto-del-progreso-latinos-carreras-en-salud-program-three-year-impact-report.

Orr, Larry, Judith D. Feins, Robin Jacob, Erik Beecroft, Lisa Sanbonmatsu, Lawrence F. Katz, Jeffrey B. Liebman, and Jeffrey R. Kling (2003). Moving to Opportunity: Interim impacts evaluation, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Available at https://scholar.harvard.edu/lkatz/publications/moving-opportunity-interim-impacts-evaluation.

View the glossary for more information about these and other terms used on this page.

The Pathways Clearinghouse refers to interventions by the names used in study reports or manuscripts. Some intervention names may use language that is not consistent with our style guide, preferences, or the terminology we use to describe populations.

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Study of Moving to Opportunity (MTO) Housing Vouchers for Use in Any Neighborhood Plus Mobility Counseling