Short Moves and Long Stays: Homeless Family Responses to Exogenous Shelter Assignments in New York City

Michael T. Cassidy ()
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Michael T. Cassidy: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

No 13559, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Using an original administrative dataset in the context of a scarcity induced-natural experi-ment in New York City, I find that families placed in shelters in their neighborhoods of origin remain there considerably longer than those assigned to distant shelters. Locally-placed families also access more public benefits and are more apt to work. A fixed effects model assessing multi-spell families confirms these main results. Complementary instrumental variable and regression discontinuity designs exploiting policy shocks and rules, respectively, suggest difficult-to-place families – such as those that are large, disconnected from services, or from neighborhoods where homelessness is common – are especially sensitive to proxi-mate placements. Better targeting through improved screening at intake can enhance pro-gram efficiency. The practice of assigning shelter based on chance vacancies ought to be replaced with a system of evidence-based placements tailored to families' resources and constraints.

Keywords: labor supply; welfare policy; public assistance; housing; poverty alleviation; families; neighborhoods; homelessness; program evaluation; causal inference (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D91 H53 H75 I38 J22 R20 R28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 144 pages
Date: 2020-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lma
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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