The Housing Assistance Supply Experiment is designed to test the effects on local housing markets of a full-scale program of housing allowances for low-income households.A test is important because, unlike most housing assistance programs, this one is administered largely by its beneficiaries, operating through normal market channels.

Within limits, a program participant is free to choose the type and quality of housing and the form of tenure that suit his preferences and his allowance-augmented budget.The administering agency assists with a monthly payment whose amount does not depend on these decisions,requiring of the recipient only that he occupy housing that meets minimum standards of space and habitability.