Permanent Housing For Homeless Families: A Review of Opportunities and Impediments
Jill Khadduri and Bulbul Kaul
Fall 2007
This report focuses on the role of federally funded rental housing subsidies in helping parents who have become homeless achieve permanent housing. There is strong evidence that families who receive housing assistance are more likely to remain stably housed than those without such assistance (Rog et al., 2005). This is not surprising, given that most adults who become homeless have limited education and earnings potential and, therefore, limited ability to pay market rents (or buy a housing unit) even when they are employed full time. The purpose of this report is to explore the type of permanent housing that homeless families need, the resources potentially available for homeless families from programs that provide housing subsidies to low-income renters, and the barriers that may prevent the use of those housing resources by people attempting to leave homelessness.
