Efforts to “deconcentrate poverty” through the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program could potentially produce unintended adverse consequences for the neighborhoods into which HCV holders move.  The most salient concern expressed has been reputed upsurges in violent and property crime.  To date, there is limited credible evidence on this issue, as scholars must successfully confront two fundamental challenges.

Evidence from a quasi-experiment in Danish Municipalities

Research attempting to estimate the effects of residential instability on children and adolescents commonly overlooks other changes within households that may be coincident with—and potentially more consequential than—moving.  Because the research on residential instability focuses primarily on its effects on children and adolescents and long has emphasized how moving may weaken familial bonds, which in turn may be harmful to young people, it is particularly important to observe the frequency at which residential or housing instability is accompanied by family or household instability.