Housing allowances and forced moves

This paper analyses the impact of housing allowances on the ability of households to sustain their dwelling. Means-tested benefits may fail to shelter households from hardship when parameters are underindexed for inflation, when adjustments of benefits to changing situations take too long or are insufficient, or when the benefits have inflationary effects on rent levels. Using evidence from the national French Housing Survey (INSEE), based on probit models, the determinants of threats of forced moves are assessed both for housing allowance recipients and for non-recipients. We conclude that even if housing allowances are effective in overcoming unaffordability, they do not entirely shield recipient households from forced moves. A completely effective policy that aims to ensure the ‘right to housing’ would reduce the risk of forced moves for recipient households to the risk level experienced by non-recipient households – a very difficult, if not impossible, objective. However, our results show, encouragingly, that the risk of forced moves for housing allowance recipients is nearly reduced to that of non-recipients.