"Private Provision of Housing Assistance: Impacts on Targeting" (with Hector Blanco) [link]

(Selected for presentation at 2026 NBER Summer Institute, APPAM, AREUEA, IIPF)

Over the past half-century, housing assistance in the U.S. has shifted from direct public provision toward provision through private markets, culminating in the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program, which has converted over 200,000 public housing units to project-based Section 8 private subsidies since 2014. We examine whether this shift toward private provision changes program targeting, as measured by tenant composition. Using nationwide administrative data from HUD and a difference-indifferences design that exploits plausibly exogenous variation in the timing of RAD conversions, we find that RAD leads to lower-income households living in converted developments over time. We decompose this effect into three mechanisms: lower income eligibility thresholds under Section 8, manager-driven responses, and tenant self-targeting. While eligibility changes contribute to the main result, focusing on incumbent households—who are unaffected by eligibility rule changes—reveals that the remaining two channels can also contribute to the result: higher-income incumbents are more likely to exit converted developments over time. We provide suggestive evidence that higher-income incumbents are more likely to take up the tenant-based voucher option offered by RAD and use it to move to lower-poverty neighborhoods, and that take up of the voucher is more likely at developments controlled by housing authorities rather than private managers.  

"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]