Research

Working Papers

Can Affordable Housing Be an Effective Lever for Increasing School Diversity? Evidence from the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit

Affordable housing policy directly influences the residential mobility and neighborhood choice of low-income households. Despite its broad influence, there is little systematic understanding of how affordable housing policy affects the public schools serving those neighborhoods targeted for housing development, or the resulting implications for students. In this paper, I examine this question using evidence from the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), the largest program incentivizing the production and rehabilitation of affordable housing in the United States. Specifically, I study the impact of LIHTC-funded affordable housing developments on school diversity, using a quasi-experimental approach that leverages a discontinuity in the tax incentives based on the specific location of a LIHTC project. Despite economic theory and previous empirical work suggesting that low-income housing could lead to increased levels of segregation in schools, I find that on a national level, LIHTC development did not result in a phenomenon of white or high-income “flight” from neighborhood schools, nor in an increase of poverty concentration or racial segregation in schools. Moreover, among neighborhoods that are predominantly white at baseline, the development of affordable housing led to a significant increase in the racial diversity of nearby schools, with reduced form estimates indicating a nearly 30 percent increase in the number of Black and Hispanic students. These findings highlight an important indirect consequence of LIHTC and provides promising evidence for the potential of affordable housing policy to promote increased school diversity going forward.

An earlier version of this paper was circulated as "Neighborhood Development and School Diversity: Evidence from Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits" in Fall 2019

Housing Interventions and Student Outcomes: Evidence from a Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program, revision resubmitted to Education Finance and Policy

Despite recent dramatic growth in student homelessness, little research evidence exists on how homelessness interventions influence the educational experiences of young people. This paper examines the attendance and behavioral outcomes of students participating in a homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing program—which combines temporary rental subsidies with light- touch case management—in a large urban school district. By linking detailed district administrative data with programmatic data, I create a novel dataset that allows me to examine student outcomes in the months leading up to and following entry into the intervention program. Using generalized and event study difference-in-differences models with student fixed effects, I find that behavior improves following program entry among students tending to have frequent behavioral incidents. Additionally, students’ absence rates increase, specifically for those students rehoused outside the city proper. The results highlight the benefits and risks to students of this type of housing intervention, as well as the diversity of experiences among students facing various degrees of housing insecurity.

Peer-Reviewed Publications

School Performance, Accountability, and Waiver Reforms: Evidence from Louisiana (with Thomas Dee). 2019. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 41(3), 316-349.

Stress in Boom Times: Understanding Teachers' Economic Anxiety in a High-Cost Urban District (with Susanna Loeb, Emily Penner, and Jane Rochmes). 2019. AERA Open, 5(4), 1-20.

Works in Progress

Student Supports: The Role of Social Safety Net Programs in College Student Success (with Jesse Rothstein and Johanna Lacoe)

Evaluating Regional Variation in Community College Student Outcomes (with Jesse Rothstein and Johanna Lacoe)

Rising Housing Costs and Residential Mobility: Exploring Implications for Educational Opportunity and Equity (with Natalie Holmes)

Achievement Gaps Between Poor and Non-poor Students in U.S. School Districts, Counties, and Metropolitan Areas (with Sean Reardon, Erin Fahle, and Heewon Jang)

The Community Eligibility Provision and Impacts to Data on Economic Disadvantage Among Students (with Sean Reardon, Erin Fahle, and Heewon Jang)

Examining Test-Day Absences Among Homeless and Highly Mobile Students and Understanding Implications for Achievement Gaps (with Jaymes Pyne)