USC researchers found dramatic differences between Los Angeles and other metro areas in terms of the rate of unsheltered homelessness — and the concentration of federally subsidized public housing units. (Photo/iStock)
Expansion of federally subsidized public housing may offer a path out of L.A.’s homelessness crisis
A new USC analysis looks at the link between unsheltered homelessness and public housing in more than 150 metropolitan areas
A rapid and robust expansion of publicly funded housing could potentially reduce the number of people living in cars, RVs and tents in Los Angeles, according to a new USC analysis.
The analysis, which looked at the link between unsheltered homelessness and public housing in more than 150 metropolitan areas from 2017 through 2020, could help guide the implementation of Measure A, a half-cent sales tax recently approved by L.A. County voters expected to generate $1 billion per year to address homelessness.
- Read the full white paper.
“We think federally subsidized public housing may play a distinctly important role in mitigating the housing crisis, by offering a stable, affordable and accessible option for individuals at high risk of eventually becoming homeless,” said research scientist Jared Schachner of the USC Price School of Public Policy, lead author of the report.
Schachner worked with the USC Homelessness Policy Research Institute (HPRI) to produce the report. HPRI, a collaborative of over 100 researchers, policymakers, service providers and experts with lived experience of homelessness, is a joint venture of the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work and USC Price. Other authors include Junmin Byon of the USC Rossier School of Education and Gary Painter of the University of Cincinnati.
The researchers found dramatic differences between Los Angeles and other metro areas in terms of the rate of unsheltered homelessness — and the concentration of federally subsidized public housing units.
For example, the New York/Newark/Jersey City area has a homelessness rate of 926 per 100,000 individuals — more than double the L.A./Long Beach/Anaheim rate of 402 per 100,000 people. Yet in the New York area, only 11% of homeless individuals are unsheltered — compared with 83% in the Los Angeles area.
The disparity in these large metro areas’ unsheltered homelessness rates may reflect, in part, New York’s much higher concentration of federally financed public housing units: The New York area has 3,004 public housing units per 100,000 people, compared with 1,319 units in the Los Angeles area.
“Metros with higher concentrations of federally financed public housing tend to have lower rates of unsheltered homelessness,” Schachner said. “Specifically, larger concentrations of traditional public housing and Section 8 project-based subsidized units predict fewer people living unsheltered.”
Traditional public housing is commonly owned and operated by a government entity, and Section 8 project-based housing is commonly owned and operated by a non-government entity but is built with substantial federal subsidies. Both approaches seemed to have a stronger link to lower unsheltered homelessness than did the concentration of federal Housing Choice Vouchers.
“Two promising paths forward emerged from this study,” Schachner said. “One, significantly increase investment in traditional public housing and Section 8 project-based housing units. Two, redesign the Housing Choice Voucher program in ways that reduce administrative burdens and increase landlord participation.”
Schachner cautioned that the analysis represents a snapshot in time and doesn’t take into account factors such as weather, which affects the feasibility of living outdoors. Future research will continue to test the correlation between more public housing and less unsheltered homelessness.
The work was supported with a grant from the Slovin Family Foundation and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles.
