Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Request for Information, Direct Rental Assistance. We appreciate HUD’s commitment to exploring evidence-based models to deliver rental assistance that best support residents. On behalf of Children’s HealthWatch, we write in strong support of direct rental assistance and other policy changes to the voucher program that will increase housing choice, mobility, and stability.
Children’s HealthWatch seeks to achieve health equity for young children and their families by advancing research to transform policy. We accomplish this mission by interviewing caregivers of young children on the frontlines of pediatric care in urban emergency departments and primary care clinics in four cities: Boston, Minneapolis, Little Rock, and Philadelphia. Since 1998, we have interviewed over 80,000 caregivers and analyzed data from those interviews to determine the impact of public policies on the health and development of infants and toddlers.
Decades of research shows that when children – particularly young children – have access to high- quality, affordable homes and in neighborhoods with economic opportunities, green space, good schools, and reliable transportation, they are better able to thrive. (1,2) Unfortunately, for millions of families, and disproportionately families of color, this reality is out of reach. Children’s HealthWatch research demonstrates that when families fall behind on rent, are forced to move multiple times, and/or experience homelessness, infants and toddlers are at higher risk of being in fair or poor health and not meeting developmental milestones. In addition, their mothers are more likely to report fair or poor physical health and depressive symptoms compared to stably housed families. (3) In 2022, 17.1% of children living in US households experienced one or more forms of unstable housing, including a history of being behind on rent or moving frequently in the past year, or being homeless at some point during their lifetime. (4) This study likely underestimates the prevalence of unstable housing because it excludes children who are currently institutionalized or experiencing homelessness.
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