The Benets and Costs of Residential Mobility Programmes for the Poor

By enabling low-income families to move from highto low-poverty neighbourhoods, tenant-based rental subsidies for poor families have the potential to reduce the degree of economic segregation in the US. This paper provides a framework for identifying the beneŽts and costs of such housing mobility programmes, and reviews the available empirical evidence on the net effects of quasior formal randomised housing mobility experiments. The best available evidence suggests that families in public housing who receive rental subsidies to move from highto lower-poverty areas may experience reductions in welfare receipt and improvements in health status. Such moves may also improve schooling outcomes for children and reduce their problem behaviours. The beneŽts to society from these changes are substantial when measured in dollar terms. Unfortunately, very little is currently known about the effects of housing-mobility efforts on non-participants.