Harvard Opportunity Insights collaboration aims to increase upward mobility – Harvard Gazette

A collaboration between Harvard Opportunity Insights and Seattle and Washington County social housing agencies revealed that providing support and advice on their options to families with good housing choices had led many more people to settle in neighborhoods where children had higher recorded mobility rates.

Fifty-four percent of families who benefited from Enhanced Opportunity (OMC) services chose to settle in high-potential areas, compared to about 14 percent of families who received services. housing authorities, according to a recent report by Opportunity Insights. Based on a sample of 310 families, the CTO program increased by 40 percentage points the number of families renting housing in high-potential neighborhoods. The result shows that low-income families are concentrated in low-opportunity areas, partly because of barriers that prevent them from settling in areas with greater opportunities.

"Thanks to OMTO, we found that a small intervention could dramatically alter a family's ability to offer their children the upward mobility promised in American Dream," said economist Raj Chetty, director of Opportunity. Insights.

High-potential neighborhoods were identified with the help of Opportunities Atlas created by researchers from the Census Bureau, Harvard and Brown University to determine the best chances of success for students. low-income children. This information has been combined with local authority expertise in social housing on neighborhood characteristics. An Opportunity Insight study reveals that each year spent in a neighborhood with the highest opportunity during childhood increases the chances of attending college, as well as an increase of $ 302,000 lifetime earnings. . However, at present, most of the 2.2 million American families receiving vouchers for housing choices are grouped into relatively poor and unsuitable neighborhoods.

"The results of OMTC are incredibly encouraging," said Chetty. "This shows that in Seattle and in King County, segregation is not the result of deep-seated preferences that families must live in specific neighborhoods or widespread discriminatory preferences among homeowners."

Families selected to receive additional services from the College were randomly selected from those at the top of the waiting lists for housing vouchers. They were informed of the location of areas with high potential and received personalized support for rental applications, badistance in finding housing and financial badistance. In addition, CTO staff actively recruited new homeowners to rent to families. Families benefiting from the services of the Order have not been forced to settle in neighborhoods with high potential and have kept their vouchers regardless of the decision of their neighborhood. The trial began in April 2018 and the subjects were followed until June 2019.

Opportunity Insights has partnered with the Abdul Latif Jameel Anti-Poverty Action Lab at Johns Hopkins University and MDRC, in addition to housing authorities for the creation of OMTO. The King County Project is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Surgo Foundation.