The impact of minimum income on homelessness: Evidence from France

Gedeão Locks and Josselin Thuilliez (josselin.thuilliez@cnrs.fr)
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Gedeão Locks: CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, DIW Berlin - German Institute for Economic Research
Josselin Thuilliez: CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: In France, childless adults younger than 25 face hard-to-meet eligibility conditions to enroll in the minimum income program. The restrictive requirements generate a "jump" in the number of recipients at ages around 25. We use a Regression Discontinuity (RD) design to assess the impact of the French minimum income program (RSA) on users of accommodation and meal distribution services. We find that the RSA benefit reduces the homelessness rate by 20% among young adults aged 22 to 27. This result is driven by new RSA recipients who have started paying partial rent to third parties, and the probability of becoming a regular tenant increases after age 26. We simulate the effects of lowering the program's minimum age eligibility on the probability of being homeless. Our findings suggest that in programs directed at homeless individuals, around 60% of expenditures are offset by savings in social assistance costs to the homeless.

Keywords: Extreme poverty; Homeless; Regression discontinuity; France; Welfare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-05
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04033734
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Published in Journal of Urban Economics, 2023, 135, pp.103547. ⟨10.1016/j.jue.2023.103547⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-04033734

DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2023.103547

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