Volume 15, Issues 1

2004

This research addresses the extent to which tenant-based rental assistance, before and after welfare reform, helps households move to areas with greater opportunities for employment. It was thoguht that the threat of losing their welfare benefits would enourage participants in the Section 8 program to use the mobility it offers to move to neighborhoods with greater opportunities for employment.

 

Two samples of Section 8 program participants, one taken before welfare reform and the other taken after it was enacted, have been examined. With the strong new economy after welfare reform, more Section 8 households are employed and fewer are on welfare. However, the analysis finds that, independent of welfare reform, households did not use their housing subsidy to move to areas with greater opportunities for emplyment. Program participants typically remained in racially concetrated areas of the central city, away from those neighborhoods with job growth or large number of jobs.