Factors related to self-sufficiency in a distressed public housing community

This article examines factors related to family economic self-sufficiency in a distressed and geographically isolated public housing community. Using data from a survey of over 400 households living in a public housing development in New York City that has received HOPE VI funding, the analysis focuses both on self-reported reasons for joblessness and on a logistic regression model of the characteristics and resources that distinguish self-sufficient households from those on welfare. We find that the presence of children, work experience, and especially car ownership are the most significant factors related to family economic self-sufficiency, even controlling for income and other potentially confounding effects. These results are discussed in the context of welfare reform and the renewed emphasis in federal housing policy on strategies to promote family economic self-sufficiency in the public housing program.