Survey Data Collection for Experimental Evidence on the Impacts of Partial Rent Assistance

What are the impacts of partial (shallow) rent subsidies on housing instability? This project will evaluate a randomized controlled trial (RCT) designed to examine this research question and test the hypothesis that partial rent subsidies can improve housing stability and reduce homelessness. The RCT population consists of low-income, rent-burdened residents in San Diego County, CA who are aged 55 or older. Participants are randomly assigned to treatment and control groups, and participants in the treatment group receive $500 per month for 18 or 30 months and light case management services. The treatment and control groups are 382 households and 671 households, respectively. Using administrative Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data for San Diego County, the primary outcomes are based on accessing homeless services (being homeless) in each month after random assignment. The project team is seeking funding for survey data collection to augment the primary outcomes measured using administrative data.