Publications : Briefs

Nearly one quarter of low-income families do not have a checking or savings account, more than one-third do not own cars, 60 percent do not own a home, and 90 percent have no retirement account. In contrast, the typical middle-income family has checking or savings accounts, retirement accounts, owns a car and a home. This brief synthesizes current research on the assets and liabilities of low-income families into a variety of portraits and provides suggestions for future research and policy.

This brief presents an empirical analysis of how asset tests affect families’ asset holdings. The findings suggest that more lenient asset tests and more generous IDA program rules can lead families to increase their asset holdings. Relaxed vehicle asset limits, for example, are associated with increased vehicle ownership. Since people often need a reliable car to get to work, this finding suggests that exempting at least one vehicle in all states may increase employment and job stability among low-income families. The findings also suggest that restrictions on withdrawals and incentives built into restricted asset accounts and IDA programs may provide families with motivation to build assets.

The District of Columbia Housing Monitor provides a quarterly look at the Washington, D.C., housing market, tracking home prices, real estate listings, new construction, and affordable housing. This issue's special section examines mortgage lending trends through 2005 and highlights the declining share of low income home buyers in neighborhoods throughout the city.

Gentrification presents a quandary for government officials and urban planners concerned about the welfare of low-income families. How can policymakers encourage development in depressed urban neighborhoods without pricing out their residents? The existing strategies—doing nothing, mandating rent control, subsidizing rental housing, decreasing barriers to building low-cost units, and promoting homeownership by low income families—are all problematic. By creating a market for rent options or insurance against rising rental costs, policymakers could preserve housing for low-income people while giving them a stake in improving their neighborhoods. Such financial instruments can also insure builders, preserving and increasing development of affordable housing.

The District of Columbia Housing Monitor provides a quarterly look at the Washington, D.C., housing market, tracking home prices, real estate listings, new construction, and affordable housing. This issue's special section, "Who Owns the Neighborhood?" examines ownership of residential and nonresidential property in the city's wards and neighborhoods by different types of private and public owners.