Public Housing Assistance and Social Security Disability Program Participation: Do Vouchers Crowd Out Disability Applications and Receipt?

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) both administer programs providing economic support to non-elderly individuals with disabilities, but we know little about interactions between these independently funded and administered programs and the resulting implications for the economic security of individuals with disabilities. We address this knowledge gap by leveraging ZIP code-level variation in HUD funding to local housing authorities arising from policy changes to rental ceilings for the Housing Choice Voucher program. We use this variation to estimate the causal impact of voucher receipt on Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance program participation at the ZIP code level. Across numerous specifications, we consistently find a strongly statistically significant negative relationship, where additional voucher utilization leads to fewer SSI and SSDI applications and lower SSI rolls. Our estimates range from a reduction of one SSI applicant for between 10 and 40 additional vouchers utilized, a smaller effect size for SSDI applicants, and a larger effect size for SSI recipients. These results point to significant substitutability between income support and housing support programs, potentially mediated by local housing authorities themselves, which has important implications for interactions between federal programs supporting individuals with disabilities as well as the net federal costs of funding additional housing vouchers.