The anti-marriage bias in housing assistance would likely impact the following:
- Marriage neutrality in benefit calculation
- Gradual benefit reductions instead of cliffs
- Marriage education/counseling
- Targeted support for married couples
- Reform criminal record policies
- Community land trusts/shared equity homeownership
While proponents claim that work requirements and federal housing term limits are helpful for ensuring upward mobility, studies on the impacts of work readiness requirements show that often, they have more negative than positive impacts on the populations they’re trying to help. For example, the Office of Policy Development & Research conducted a study and concluded “The report documenting outcomes of work requirement policies in the TANF, SNAP, Medicaid and HUD-funded assisted housing programs found few beneficial outcomes, and more than a few negative outcomes, for program participants.” Unfortunately, there has been little research on the impacts of work requirements, so it’s difficult to know if these programs are having the intended effects.
Housing First is a homeless assistance approach that prioritizes providing permanent housing to people experiencing homelessness. Unlike other approaches, it doesn’t require individuals to address all their problems (such as behavioral health issues) before accessing housing. Instead, it views housing as the foundation for life improvement. The creator of this policy won a Time100 award for it and it has been shown to increase long-term housing stability and the vast majority of studies have proven its effectiveness.
