%0 Report
        %A Cassidy, Michael T.
        %T Short Moves and Long Stays: Homeless Family Responses to Exogenous Shelter Assignments in New York City
        %D 2020
        %8 2020 Jul
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 13559
        %U https://www.iza.org/publications/dp13559
        %X Using an original administrative dataset in the context of a scarcity induced-natural experi-ment in New York City, I find that families placed in shelters in their neighborhoods of origin remain there considerably longer than those assigned to distant shelters. Locally-placed families also access more public benefits and are more apt to work. A fixed effects model assessing multi-spell families confirms these main results. 
Complementary instrumental variable and regression discontinuity designs exploiting policy shocks and rules, respectively, suggest difficult-to-place families – such as those that are large, disconnected from services, or from neighborhoods where homelessness is common – are especially sensitive to proxi-mate placements. Better targeting through improved screening at intake can enhance pro-gram efficiency. The practice of assigning shelter based on chance vacancies ought to be replaced with a system of evidence-based placements tailored to families' resources and constraints.
        %K labor supply
%K welfare policy
%K public assistance
%K housing
%K poverty alleviation
%K families
%K neighborhoods
%K homelessness
%K program evaluation
%K causal inference