With this grant, Park will examine the implications of the Small Area Fair Rent (SAFMR) policy, a 2018 housing program in Honolulu, HI which raised voucher rent limits in high-cost neighborhoods and resulted in many low-income families relocating to less impoverished areas. Using a quasi-experimental design and linked data from the Hawai’i Department of Education, Hawai’i’s P-20 Partnerships for Education, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Park will estimate the causal effects of relocation on the educational and economic outcomes for voucher students. In addition, Park will analyze how the exodus of students from low-income communities affects outcomes for students who remain and students whose neighborhoods saw an increase in low-income students.
Does an increase in government-subsidized access to high-opportunity neighborhoods reduce academic and economic disparities for students from low-income families? What are the spillover effects on students who remain in low-opportunity neighborhoods and for those whose communities experience an influx of voucher students?
