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Employment and Earnings Trajectories of HUD Program Participants

Author

Listed:
  • Kyle Raze
  • Rachel M. Shattuck
  • David Pritchard
  • Thomas B. Foster
  • Sonya R. Porter
  • Denise Flanagan-Doyle
  • Veronica Garrison
  • Jacqueline Bachand
  • Ethan Krohn

Abstract

Federal housing assistance programs, such as those run by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), have been shown to reduce rent burden and improve housing stability for program participants, which may in turn have downstream impacts on their labor market attachment and career trajectories. However, existing studies from individual cities or states provide mixed evidence on the association of housing assistance with labor market outcomes. By linking HUD administrative records to matched employee-employer earnings records from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) program, we document how the labor market trajectories of program participants change as they enter and exit federal housing assistance programs, examining outcomes over a 14-year window surrounding entry or exit. In our analysis of entry, we find that the employment rates and earnings of first-time HUD program participants begin to increase upon entering a HUD program, which represents a reversal of prior declining trends in these outcomes. Suggestive of a positive association, these increases in employment and earnings trends exceed those of low-income non-participants from the American Community Survey (ACS). In our analysis of exits, we find that program participants who eventually leave a HUD program have increasing pre-exit trends in employment and earnings that then flatten upon exiting. Comparing these negative changes in trend to the relatively stable trajectories of those who remain in HUD programs throughout the analysis suggests that exits are associated with diminished employment and earnings trajectories.

Suggested Citation

  • Kyle Raze & Rachel M. Shattuck & David Pritchard & Thomas B. Foster & Sonya R. Porter & Denise Flanagan-Doyle & Veronica Garrison & Jacqueline Bachand & Ethan Krohn, 2026. "Employment and Earnings Trajectories of HUD Program Participants," Working Papers 26-31, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    • Handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:26-31
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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