Study Finds Housing Aid No Path to Better Education

Recipients' children in low-rated schools

It's a truism that families vote for better schools with their feet, but new research suggests that the most vulnerable and highly mobile families are also those least likely to be able to make educational opportunity a priority when deciding on housing.

Families in the four largest federal programs to subsidize housing for those in poverty do not end up with better access to high-quality schools than other low-income parents, particularly if they are black or Hispanic. That's the conclusion of the latest

Federal housing programs are not designed to improve students' academic outcomes directly, though some, like housing vouchers, are designed in part to give parents a way to move children to better schools and neighborhoods. However, officials do recognize the connection between housing and educational decisions for families. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development this year started requiring better coordination between school districts and local housing authorities as a condition for its $1.61 billion competitive...