Government housing subsidy programs for low- and moderate-income families have been affecting the well-being and consumption patterns of families all over the United States since the late 1930s. Nevertheless, there is little empirical evidence on the total benefits of, and consumption changes due to, this government intervention designed to further the national goal of a “decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family.” This is true despite the fact that a large body of microdata on government housing subsidy programs is available in the Annual Housing Survey (AHS), which has been conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) since 1973.

The purpose of this study is to use these data for 1977 to evaluate the benefits of federal, state, and local government-subsidized rental housing programs taken as a whole. Specifically, I want to determine:

1. The direct benefits of the programs to participating families.

2. The changes in consumption patterns resulting from these programs. It is expected that nonparticipating families also benefit from the programs, especially when the programs provide improved housing to low-income families. I am not able to estimate directly these benefits to nonparticipating families. Therefore, I investigate them indirectly by estimating how much more or less housing and nonhousing goods are consumed by participating families than would be consumed in the absence of the programs.

3. The distribution of the benefits; that is, the relationship between mean household benefit and household income; household size; age, education, sex, and race of head of household; and the geographic location of the family.