On April 24, the MacArthur Foundation issued ten research briefs examining how housing affects education, employment, physical and mental health. The briefs represent early results from the Foundation’s How Housing Matters to Families and Communities initiative, a five year, $25 million research program investigating the premise that “stable, quality housing may be an essential 'platform' that promotes positive outcomes" in these and other aspects of life. The initiative has supported a research network and 42 individual studies (many still underway). As the research is published, MacArthur is producing briefs highlighting the findings of each study in an accessible way. The 10 briefs just published are:
- Homelessness Is Important But Not a Determining Factor in Children’s Healthy Development
- Housing Assistance Programs Provide Limited Access to Higher-Performing Schools
- Housing Choice Vouchers Are Not Reaching Higher-Performing Schools
- With Time, Housing Choice Vouchers Contribute to Slightly Better Work Prospects for Disadvantaged Families
- Poor Black Women Are Evicted at Alarming Rates, Setting Off a Chain of Hardship
- How Neighborhoods Affect Health, Well-being, and Young People’s Futures
- Moving to More Affluent Neighborhoods Improves Health and Happiness Over the Long Term among the Poor
- Inclusionary Zoning Can Bring Poor Families Closer to Good Schools
- Does Living Along a Busy Highway Increase Premature Births?
- Poor Housing Is Tied to Children’s Emotional and Behavioral Problems