HUD USER

Despite the large body of research on housing assistance programs, few researchers have attempted to study what happens to recipients when they leave assisted housing. This paper uses data tracking HUD’s Moving to Opportunity demonstration participants over time, including after they leave housing assistance, to study the factors that cause households to leave assistance and how the experiences of leavers compare with households that remain on assistance. This paper also explores how the Great Recession may have influenced the lives of housing assistance leavers, especially those who had attempted to become homeowners.