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OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence and severity of household food insecurity and examine household material circumstances related to food insecurity in a sample of renter households in government-subsidized housing. METHODS: Cross-sectional data from the 2010 Survey of Household Spending were used to determine the food insecurity status of 455 renter households living in the 10 provinces and receiving a government housing subsidy. Multivariable logistic regressions were conducted to examine the relationship between household characteristics describing material circumstances and food insecurity. RESULTS: One in two households was food insecure. Marginal, moderate and severe food insecurity affected 9.0%, 23.3% and 18.5% of households respectively. Household economic resources, as captured with after-tax income, after-rent income, or total expenditure, had an independent, inverse relationship with food insecurity. Among the other characteristics examined, more adults or children in the household, presence of a member with disability, and receipt of social assistance increased the odds of food insecurity, but receipt of social assistance lost statistical significance when controlling for total expenditure. Presence of a senior in the household was independently associated with lower odds of food insecurity. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that more effective income-based interventions are needed to address food insecurity among low-income households receiving government housing subsidies. A better integration of housing and income-based policies is necessary to support household food security among government-subsidized renter households. KEY WORDS: Food insecurity; renters; housing subsidy; Canada OBJECTIFS : Determiner la prevalence et la gravite de l'insecurite alimentaire des menages et examiner les conditions materielles des menages liees a l'insecurite alimentaire au sein d'un echantillon de menages locataires vivant dans des logements subventionnes par l'Etat. METHODE : Nous avons utilise les donnees transversales de l'Enquete sur les depenses des menages de 2010 pour determiner le statut d'insecurite alimentaire de 455 menages locataires vivant dans les 10 provinces et touchant une subvention gouvernementale pour le logement. A l'aide de regressions logistiques multivariees, nous avons examine les liens entre les caracteristiques des menages decrivant les conditions materielles et l'insecurite alimentaire. RESULTATS : Un menage sur deux etait aux prises avec l'insecurite alimentaire. L'insecurite alimentaire marginale, moderee et grave touchait respectivement 9%, 23,3% et 18,5% des menages. Les ressources economiques des menages, saisies a l'aide du revenu net d'impot, du revenu apres le loyer ou des depenses totales, affichaient une correlation inverse independante avec l'insecurite alimentaire. Parmi les autres caracteristiques examinees, le nombre d'adultes ou d'enfants dans le menage, la presence d'un membre ayant une invalidite et le fait de toucher des prestations d'aide sociale augmentaient la probabilite d'insecurite alimentaire, mais le fait de toucher des prestations d'aide sociale perdait sa signification statistique apres l'apport d'ajustements pour tenir compte des effets des depenses totales. La presence d'une personne gee dans le menage etait independamment correlee a une probabilite d'insecurite alimentaire plus faible. CONCLUSION : Nos constatations indiquent qu'il faut ameliorer l'efficacite des interventions fondees sur le revenu pour aborder l'insecurite alimentaire dans les menages a faible revenu touchant des subventions gouvernementales pour le logement. Une meilleure integration des politiques de logement et des politiques fondees sur le revenu est necessaire pour favoriser la securite alimentaire des menages locataires dont le logement est subventionne par l'Etat. MOTS CLES : insecurite alimentaire; locataires; subventions au logement; Canada Can J Public Health 2017;108(2):e129-e134 doi: 10.17269/CJPH.108.5879, Household food insecurity, namely inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints, is a potent marker of material deprivation that affected 12.6% of Canadian households in 2012, the [...]

INTRODUCTION "Escap[ing] public housing projects" is a colloquial phrase describing the plight of people struggling to "escape" publicly subsidized housing projects and assistance programs. (1) This feat often entails overcoming [...]

Research and policy on the geography of assisted housing is dominated by a powerful conventional wisdom: Project-based subsidies are presumptively bad because they anchor assisted households in poor, racially segregated neighborhoods, while vouchers are inherently good because they promote deconcentration and integration through tenant choice. Unfortunately, this consensus is based on geographical assumptions that have been subverted by the dramatic restructuring of cities with tight housing markets over the last generation. In this study, we use the case of New York City to analyze these spatial contradictions. Project-based subsidized housing is disappearing from yesterday's poor neighborhoods that have been remade by gentrification at the urban core, while recipients of Housing Choice Vouchers are concentrated in today's poor neighborhoods of color farther from the city center. If the policy goal is to break the link between housing assistance and the stereotypes of 'projects' in the worst neighborhoods, then in the case of tight, expensive urban housing markets, voucher-driven deconcentration will be less successful than the preservation of the existing project-based housing stock. Keywords: housing policy; poverty deconcentration; New York City; assisted housing

A shift towards using vouchers for low-income housing subsidies occurred in the 1980s, allowing recipients to rent private properties. This research considers whether subsidized vouchers caused rents to go higher for the unsubsidized poor, as some analysts predicted would happen.

The effectivity of two of the most significant federal policies toward housing concerns certain inclusions in the federal income tax code which lead to owner-occupied housing preferential tax treatment and provisions in the code concerning housing to the poor at below market rent rates. If these two issues are studied as one question within a unified structure from the point of view of optimal tax theory, then the fundamental issue being considered is that of the usefulness of non-linear commodity taxes assuming consumer tastes are not identical. It will be proven that when consumers demonstrate different preferences, the differential tax treatment of housing and its subsidization to the poor may be desirable.

Compares conceptualizations of homelessness as a temporary state through which people pass or a permanent trait that emanates from individual characteristics. Evidence from a longitudinal study of 564 homeless families in New York City and additional secondary sources supports the view that for families, homelessness is a temporary state that is resolved by the provision of subsidized housing. Even for single individuals with severe mental disturbances, housing is a key factor in ending homelessness, although here there is more evidence that social services also contribute. Policy implications are that governments should take a more active role in reducing homelessness by providing access to subsidized housing. KEY WORDS: homelessness; families; housing.

The factors that influence the length of time people avail of housing assistance should be identified because the present policy focuses on promptly helping physically able individuals attain self-sufficiency. Knowing who gets housing assistance for short periods can help determine the right residential composition of housing projects and targeting meager training budgets through the self-sufficiency programs of HUD. It is because of this that a study was conducted focusing on the duration of housing assistance spells. Data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation was used to develop a hazard model. Findings indicate that several individuals will continue receiving assistance for relatively long periods although some leave housing assistance after short spells. Results also show that there is no duration dependence in housing assistance spells.

State policies on housing have been traditionally linked to city population movements. A model describing urban consumer behavior is developed to examine the effect of such policies on housing and location demands by specific household groups. Partial equilibrium and market level analyses are both applied to determine the possibility of such an impact. It is shown that subsidy effects are conditioned by consumption behavior.

In this paper, the subsidies accruing to owner-occupiers in the Newcastle travel-to-work area (TTWA) for the period 1985-87 is examined. Data at the micro level from two building societies are used to produce estimates of the impact of mortgage-interest tax relief at source and the nontaxation of imputed rent. The overall level of subsidy is shown to have fallen through time and the greatest relative subsidies are given to households with the smallest taxable income. The effect of the income elasticity of demand for housing on subsidy levels is considered and an estimate of the income elasticity of demand is produced for the Newcastle TTWA. Finally, some spatial effects of housing subsidies are discussed.

Shelter allowance programs directed towards low income housing have an overall impact on urban housing markets, which can be best traced by a model developed from consumer and relevant market theory. Findings from such a model indicate that income gap programs have the pronounced impact on program demand and subsequently an total housing demand, while rent proportion and cash transfer program effects are largely restricted to participating households.