JOB ACCESSIBILITY, AFFORDABILITY, AND FEDERAL HOUSING ASSISTANCE

Abstract

Studies of spatial mismatch and housing-transportation affordability indicate that the current spatial relationship between jobs and housing negatively affects low-income workers due to poor job accessibility. The role of federal housing programs is often neglected in the discussion. Using commuting and housing data from the 2009 National American Housing Survey, the following study investigates whether federal housing assistance programs exhibit poor job accessibility. This study compares the journey to work of non-assisted workers with the journey to work of residents of three housing assistance programs: public housing, privately-owned subsidized housing, and the tenant-based voucher program. No significant differences in commute time or distance between the three housing programs are found, but he commutes of non-assisted housing residents, are shown to be significantly longer than those of assisted housing residents. This may indicate limitations in assisted housing residents’ job search radii.