"Private Provision of Public Housing: Impacts on Targeting" (with Hector Blanco) [link]
(Selected for presentation at 2026 NBER Summer Institute, APPAM, AREUEA, IIPF)
Housing assistance in the U.S. has undergone a shift from public provision toward subsidized provision through private markets. This paper studies how private provision may affect targeting by examining conversions of public housing to project-based vouchers through the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program. RAD allows housing authorities to convert their public housing to project-based contracts in order to leverage financing for repairs and renovations, often accompanied by a transfer of ownership or management to private entities. The switch to private provision could impact how managers decide which households to admit or retain and how residents weigh tradeoffs between improved buildings and the option to move with a voucher, gradually changing the targeting of the program. We use nationwide administrative data on public housing tenants and a difference-in-differences design that leverages plausibly exogenous variation in the timing of RAD conversions to study impacts of RAD on targeting between 2014 and 2023. We provide suggestive evidence that there is targeting of relatively lower-income residents at conversions with non-profit managers compared to for-profit managers, potentially through the channels of waitlist priorities for new admissions and self-selection of households moving out with vouchers rather than for-profit managers pursuing terminations based on perceived costs.
"The Housing Externalities of Private Investment in Public Housing" (with Hector Blanco and Ingrid Gould Ellen)
(Selected for presentation at 2026 WEAI)
Public housing in the United States has fallen out of favor partly due to the physical deterioration of its buildings and the resulting negative externalities on surrounding neighborhoods. The Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program was introduced in 2011 as a policy to address these issues by allowing PHAs to leverage private financial support to rehabilitate public housing developments while preserving long-term affordability. Our study examines the impact of RAD-induced rehabilitations of public housing on local housing markets, focusing on spillover effects on the sale and rental prices of nearby properties. We aim to distinguish between the effects derived from physical improvements to the buildings and those associated with the privatization of management.
"The Effects of RAD Conversion on Eviction Patterns" (with Peter Hepburn and Ingrid Gould Ellen), Housing Policy Debate, 2026.
"Eviction Practices in Subsidized Housing: Evidence From New York State" (with Ingrid Gould Ellen and Katherine O'Regan), Cityscape - Local Data for Local Action Special Issue, 2024.
"The Potential End of Emergency Housing Voucher Funding: Public Housing Agencies’ Search for Solutions" (with Christi Economy, Ryan Finnigan, and Claudia Aiken)
UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation and NYU Furman Center Housing Solutions Lab, 2025. [link]
"Policy at a crossroads: What we know about work requirements and time limits in federal housing assistance" (with Claudia Aiken)
NYU Furman Center Housing Solutions Lab, 2025. [link]
"Exploring the Feasibility of Linking Eviction Records to Administrative Databases for HUD's Housing Choice Voucher Program" (with Ingrid Gould Ellen, Katherine O'Regan, and Hector Blanco)
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Policy Development and Research [forthcoming]
"Impact of the Rental Assistance Demonstration on Children’s Residential Mobility, Health and Well-Being in New York State." (with Ingrid Gould Ellen, Renata Howland, and Steve Mello)
(Selected for presentation at 2022 APPAM and 2022 ACSP)
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Policy Development and Research, 2023. [link]
"Half the Battle is Just Showing Up: Non-Answers and Default Judgments in Non-Payment Eviction Cases Across New York State" (with Ingrid Gould Ellen, Katherine O'Regan, Ryan Brenner, and Sophie House)
NYU Furman Center, 2023. [link]
"Falling Through the Cracks? The Distribution of ERAP Spending in New York State" (with Ingrid Gould Ellen and Carl Hedman)
NYU Furman Center, Housing Crisis Research Collaborative, 2022. [link]