BACKGROUND: Section 8 vouchers help low-income families relocate to lower-poverty neighborhoods, potentially altering neighborhood racial/ethnic composition and exposure to perceived discrimination.
METHODS: The Moving to Opportunity study randomized families to a low-poverty voucher, traditional voucher, or control. Low-poverty voucher recipients could use vouchers in neighborhoods with <20% poverty, while traditional voucher recipients had no restrictions. We estimated the effect of voucher receipt at baseline (1994-1998) on non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic adolescents’ perceived racial/ethnic discrimination in 2001-2002 (n = 2200), and identified heterogeneity across voucher types, cities (Boston, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles), and sexes. We used a doubly robust adaptive shrinkage approach to identify effect modifiers (sex and city) in each voucher comparison group and discrimination setting.
RESULTS: On average across cities, low-poverty voucher receipt reduced risk of perceived police discrimination among boys and girls. In Los Angeles, among boys and girls, low-poverty voucher and traditional voucher receipt, respectively, reduced risk of perceived school and neighborhood discrimination. Receipt of a traditional voucher increased risk of perceived discrimination at stores in Chicago and perceived neighborhood discrimination in Boston, Chicago, and New York.
CONCLUSIONS: Offering vouchers may affect participants’ risk of perceived discrimination, but this effect depends on voucher type and city.
Effect of voucher receipt on perceived discrimination in boys and girls in the Moving to Opportunity study
American Journal of Epidemiology [Epub 2025 Jul 30]. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwaf161.