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Summary

The MTO Housing Vouchers for Use in Low-Poverty Neighborhoods Plus Mobility Counseling intervention provided housing vouchers and counseling services to help families with low incomes and at least one child younger than 18 find and lease private rental housing in low-poverty neighborhoods. The program was intended to support family well-being, defined in terms of the following characteristics: (1) mobility, housing, and neighborhood quality; (2) adult and child physical and mental health; (3) child educational achievement; (4) youth delinquency and risky behavior; (5) adult and youth employment and earnings, and (6) household income and public assistance receipt.

Between 1994 and 1998, MTO offered housing vouchers to families with low incomes who lived in public housing or private assisted housing projects in high-poverty neighborhoods and who had at least one child younger than 18. Private assisted housing projects are rental housing built by private owners through federal programs that required them to price some units to be affordable to people with low incomes. The vouchers subsidized the cost of renting private housing in low-poverty neighborhoods. Intervention participants also received counseling services and special assistance from local nonprofit counseling agencies to help them find and lease eligible private rental units. The intervention required families to use their voucher in low-poverty areas for one year, after which families could use their voucher to relocate without geographical restriction for up to 4 years. Participants were required to observe Section 8 housing voucher policies that limited the amount of time voucher recipients had to secure housing to 90 days, required voucher recipients to contribute 30 percent of their adjusted income to rent, and prohibited illegal drug use or alcohol abuse. The intervention was conducted in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.

Populations and employment barriers: Parents

Effectiveness rating and effect by outcome domain

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Outcome domain Term Effectiveness rating Effect in 2018 dollars and percentages Effect in standard deviations Sample size
Increase earnings Short-term No evidence to assess support
Long-term No evidence to assess support
Very long-term Little evidence to assess support favorable $481 per year 0.023 2493
Increase employment Short-term No evidence to assess support
Long-term No evidence to assess support
Very long-term Little evidence to assess support unfavorable -1% (in percentage points) -0.020 2610
Decrease benefit receipt Short-term No evidence to assess support
Long-term No evidence to assess support
Very long-term Little evidence to assess support unfavorable $61 per year 0.022 2595
Increase education and training All measurement periods No evidence to assess support

Studies of this intervention

Study quality rating Study counts per rating
High High 1

Implementation details

Characteristics of research participants
Black or African American
62%
White, not Hispanic
3%
Asian
1%
Another race
2%
Unknown or not reported
2%
Hispanic or Latino of any race
31%

The Pathways Clearinghouse refers to interventions by the names used in study reports or manuscripts. Some intervention names may use language that is not consistent with our style guide, preferences, or the terminology we use to describe populations.

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