A new issue of The Takeaway finds that anti-discrimination laws help low-income renters secure private housing, reducing poverty concentration in public housing communities.
COLLEGE STATION, TX (March 6, 2025) – A new issue of The Takeaway highlights research from the Bush School of Government & Public Service showing that source of income (SOI) anti-discrimination laws in the private rental market help deconcentrate poverty in public housing. The authors find that by prohibiting landlords from rejecting tenants based on the usage of housing vouchers, these laws improve voucher success rates, allowing more low-income households to secure private rentals and reducing the number of extremely poor households in public housing. This shift suggests that SOI laws can be an effective policy tool for promoting economic mobility and alleviating concentrated poverty.
You can read the full policy brief at “Can Anti-Discrimination Laws in the Private Market Help Deconcentrate Poverty in Public Housing?” The authors are both from the Bush School of Government & Public Service. Dr. Jeehee Han is an Assistant Professor, and Payel Nasrin is a second year Master of Public Service and Administration student.
The Takeaway is a publication of the Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics, and Public Policy at the Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University.
