Work Participation and Length of Stay in HUD-Assisted Housing

To what extent do HUD-assisted tenants participate in paid work? How long do tenants remain assisted once admitted to one of the assistance programs? The authors use extracts from very large HUD tenant administrative data systems to answer these questions, with special attention to tenants who are neither elderly nor disabled. Five out of every nine nonelderly nondisabled assisted tenants are employed; earnings for most of the employed do not exceed the federal poverty level. The typical current spell in housing assistance for the nonelderly nondisabled is approximately 3 years, with wide variance.