Child Health and Neighborhood Conditions: Results from a Randomized Housing Voucher Experiment

Fortson, Jane; Sanbonmatsu, Lisa

doi:10.1353/jhr.2010.0025

Cited by 29 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The MTO study randomized low-income families to receive a housing voucher to subsidize a private rental apartment and move out of public housing, thereby improving their neighborhood and housing environment compared to controls (Orr et al, 2003), which presumably should have reduced asthma. Although prior work has documented both beneficial and harmful effects of MTO on health (Kling et al, 2007; Ludwig et al, 2011; Orr et al, 2003; Osypuk et al, 2012a, 2012b), including harmful effects on asthma (Fortson and Sanbonmatsu, 2010), the mechanisms through which MTO affects asthma have not been formally tested. The MTO experiment provides a rich source of data that we use to test whether specific potential mediators can explain these unexpected adverse effects on asthma, including: mental health, tobacco exposure, housing characteristics, and housing-related stressors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining mediators of housing mobility on adolescent asthma: Results from a housing voucher experiment

Schmidt

Lincoln

Nguyen

et al. 2014

Social Science & Medicine

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Literature on neighborhood effects on health largely employs non-experimental study designs and does not typically test specific neighborhood mediators that influence health. We address these gaps using the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) housing voucher experiment. Research has documented both beneficial and adverse effects on health in MTO, but mediating mechanisms have not been tested explicitly. We tested mediation of MTO effects on youth asthma (n = 2829). MTO randomized families living in public housing to an experimental group receiving a voucher to subsidize rental housing, or a control group receiving no voucher, and measured outcomes 4–7 years following randomization. MTO had a harmful main effect vs. controls for self-reported asthma diagnosis (b = 0.24, p = 0.06), past-year asthma attack (b = 0.44, p = 0.02), and past-year wheezing (b = 0.17, p = 0.17). Using Inverse Odds Weighting mediation we tested mental health, smoking, and four housing dimensions as potential mediators of the MTO–asthma relationship. We found no significant mediation overall, but mediation may be gender-specific. Gender-stratified models displayed countervailing mediation effects among girls for asthma diagnosis by smoking (p = 0.05) and adult-reported housing quality (p = 0.06), which reduced total effects by 35% and 42% respectively. MTO treatment worsened boys’ mental health and mental health reduced treatment effects on asthma diagnosis by 27%. Future research should explore other potential mediators and gender-specific mediators of MTO effects on asthma. Improving measurement of housing conditions and other potential mediators may help elucidate the “black box” of neighborhood effects.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining mediators of housing mobility on adolescent asthma: Results from a housing voucher experiment

Schmidt

Lincoln

Nguyen

et al. 2014

Social Science & Medicine

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“…For example, the one randomized mobility experiment that has been conducted to date, Moving to Opportunity (MTO), found that MTO-assisted moves to less distressed neighborhoods reduced obesity and mental health problems among adults, had mixed effects on risky behaviors by youth, with girls doing better and boys on balance doing worse as a result of the moves, and had no detectable effects on survey-reported child health outcomes , Kling, Liebman and Katz, 2007, Fortson and Sanbonmatsu, 2010. The results for children and youth in MTO are particularly surprising in light of the large social-epidemiological literature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Housing and Neighborhood Conditions on Child Mortality

Jacob

Ludwig

Miller

2011

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In this paper we estimate the causal effects on child mortality from moving into less distressed neighborhood environments. We match mortality data to information on every child in public housing that applied for a housing voucher in Chicago in 1997 (N=11,848). Families were randomly assigned to the voucher wait list, and only some families were offered vouchers. The odds ratio for the effects of being offered a housing voucher on overall mortality rates is equal to 1.11 for all children (95% CI 0.54 to 2.10), 1.50 for boys (95% CI 0.72 to 2.89) and 0.00 for girls -that is, the voucher offer is perfectly protective for mortality for girls (95% CI 0 to 0.79). Our paper also addresses a methodological issue that may arise in studies of low-probability outcomes -perfect prediction by key explanatory variables.

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“…not limited to specific housing projects) (Roman & Travis, 2004). Housing vouchers often pay for about 30% of a tenant's rent, and have been associated with better health outcomes during follow up (Fortson & Sanbonmatsu, 2009), as well as decreased risks of returning to welfare among homeless populations (Bania, Coulton, & Leete, 2003).…”

Section: The Impact Of Housing Services and Interventions On Recidivimentioning

confidence: 99%

Removing Release Impediments and Reducing Correctional Costs: Evaluation of Washington State’s Housing Voucher Program

Hamilton¹,

Kigerl

Hays

2013

Justice Quarterly

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Homelessness is a persistent problem facing offenders returning to the community from prison. Many offenders were homeless prior to incarceration, and often return to homelessness after release. Additionally, the costs of incarceration have led policy-makers to consider large-scale alternatives to rapidly and effectively reduce correctional costs. The Washington State Department of Corrections' Housing Voucher Program (HVP) is a reentry program that seeks to divert offenders from homelessness by paying for returning offenders' rent expenses in private housing for up to three months following their release. The current study provides an impact evaluation and cost assessment of HVP. Findings demonstrate support for the program and indicate dramatic reductions in associated correctional costs.

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Child Health and Neighborhood Conditions: Results from a Randomized Housing Voucher Experiment

Cited by 29 publications

References 24 publications

Examining mediators of housing mobility on adolescent asthma: Results from a housing voucher experiment

Examining mediators of housing mobility on adolescent asthma: Results from a housing voucher experiment

The Effects of Housing and Neighborhood Conditions on Child Mortality

Removing Release Impediments and Reducing Correctional Costs: Evaluation of Washington State’s Housing Voucher Program

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