This report analyzes program participation in the various forms of housing allowance programs tested In the Housing Allowance Demand Experiment. Two stages In participation are analyzed--accepting the initial enrollment offer and, for the forms of allowance which required households to live in units that met certain requirements, subsequently meeting requirements and participating once enrolled.

The analysis finds that, as expected, programs of income-conditioned transfer payments or rebates on rental expenditures have high participation rates. The imposition of housing requirements reduces participation rates considerably. There appears to be a reasonably stable relationship between participation and a household's normal probability of meeting requirements In the absence of the allowance offer. This relationship depends on the amount of the allowance payment offered, but not on the type of requirement imposed or household demographic characteristics. The report also considers differences In participation for households that remained eligible for relatively long periods and discusses the implications of the results for program evaluation and design. Some attention 15 paid to the implications of the findings for other housing programs. In addition, technical concerns addressed In the report include evaluation of bias due to sample selection and attrition, effects of population turnover on participation, and development and testing of an underlying theoretical model of the participation decision.

For more information on the Experimental Housing Allowance Program (EHAP) and to find related reports, please visit the EHAP landing page.

This report is part of the collection of scanned historical documents available to the public.