Hispanic Families in Assisted Housing

Sandra Newman
C. Scott Holupka
Johns Hopkins University

Using rich data, we establish a national profile of Hispanic families in assisted housing and compare this profile to that of non-Hispanic Black and White families. Through multivariate regression and decomposition analysis, we then estimate the effect of being Hispanic on the odds of receiving assistance and whether being Hispanic per se could explain Hispanic families’ significantly lower chances of assistance receipt than their Black and White counterparts. The additional analysis estimates whether Hispanic families are receiving their “fair share” of housing assistance. We find significant disparities in the size of assisted housing units among Hispanics compared to Blacks and Whites. Being Hispanic lowers the odds of receiving housing assistance by about one-third relative to Blacks and Whites. Neither this disparity nor that in housing unit size is explained by measured characteristics of the three race and ethnic groups. Hispanic families represent one-third of income-eligibles in the three race and ethnic groups but 20 percent of assisted housing recipients. Across program types, Hispanics are overrepresented in public housing and under-represented in the multifamily and voucher programs.