Examining the Effects of the Rental Assistance Demonstration on Children Living in Public Housing in Fresno, California

The Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) is a recently launched federal housing program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that converts public housing to Section 8 rental assistance contracts to finance critical maintenance and repairs. Although the program is heralded as a critical tool to improving the public housing stock, RAD is still in its earliest stages, and there is much to be learned about how it affects residents living in public housing. The overall goal of this study is to explore the mechanisms by which RAD may influence the well-being of low-income children in public housing and, more broadly, how HUD’s rental assistance programs can be strengthened.