Publications

This case study, one of three prepared by the Center for Housing Policy presented at the National Building Museum's How Housing Matters Conference, looks at how secure and affordable housing can provide a platform for children's educational success.

The Impacts of Affordable Housing on Education: A Research Summary, a brief by Senior Research Associate Maya Brennan, uncovers a wealth of research suggesting that stable, affordable housing provides children with enhanced opportunities for educational success.  The brief reviews literature showing that the supportive and stable home environment encouraged by high-quality, affordable housing often leads to better educational outcomes.

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The report  finds that low-income families move much more frequently than the general population.  While reasons for moving vary, the data and  interviews of low-income families show that moves resulting from unplanned or involuntary circumstances, such as an eviction or foreclosure, and moves that occur one after another as part of a pattern of frequent mobility tend to have negative impacts on child and family welfare, such as increased school absenteeism and a higher incidence of neighborhood problems.

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This brief summarizes three recent reports that test the hypothesis that homeownership directly leads to better educational, health, and behavioral outcomes for children.

Applying rigorous methodologies to isolate the potential effects of homeownership, all three reports conclude that homeownership, per se, does not lead to better outcomes for children. Instead, it appears to be the characteristics of the families that become homeowners and perhaps the stability associated with owning a home that explain the association between homeownership and better outcomes for children.

The Center for Housing Policy reviewed the academic literature on the various ways in which the production, rehabilitation or other provisions of affordable housing may lead to improved education outcomes for children. Based on this review, we identified seven promising hypotheses regarding the positive contribution of affordable housing to education, which is summarized in this publication.

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