The House Next Door A Comparison of Residences

The House Next Door: A Comparison of Residences by Disability Status Using New Measures in the American Housing Survey Denise Whalen and Gina Livermore Presented at the American Housing Survey (AHS) User Conference Washington, DC March 8, 2011

Background ● Working-age people with disabilities face limitations in many aspects of life – 47% who experience poverty for more than one year are people with disabilities (She and Livermore 2007) ● Housing affordability is an issue – 36% of non-elderly households with worst-case needs have members with disabilities (HUD 2011) – 41% of households with members with disabilities have trouble affording housing costs (NCD 2010)

Background (cont’d. ) ● Poor housing characteristics are common among elderly households with disabled members – Poor economic conditions (Freedman et al. 2008; Beard et al. 2009) – Neighborhood mobility barriers (Keysor et al. 2010; Freedman et al. 2008) – Crime (Beard et al. 2009; Clark et al. 2009) – Unmet needs for dwelling modifications (Newman 2003)

Research Questions ● For the working-age population (18– 64 years), how does disability affect: – Housing characteristics? – Neighborhood characteristics? ● Do characteristics vary by type of disability? ● Do characteristics vary by receipt of housing assistance?

Defining Disability in the AHS ● Six limitation questions: – Deafness or serious difficulty hearing – Blindness or serious difficulty seeing – Serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions – Serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs – Serious difficulty dressing or bathing – Difficulty doing errands alone

Defining Disability in the AHS (cont’d. ) ● Receipt of disability income: – Any disability payments such as Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), workers’ compensation, veterans’ disability payments, or other disability payments – Any Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments

Analytic Sample ● Sample exclusions: – Younger than 18 or older than 64 – Missing information on any of the six limitation questions (479) – Missing information on receipt of disability income (4, 185) – Missing information on limitation and disabilitypayment questions (26) ● Analytic sample: 65, 040 individuals

Disability Rates in the AHS, People Age 18– 64 Limitation Prevalence Hearing disability 1. 2 Visual disability 0. 8 Cognitive disability 1. 9 Ambulatory disability 3. 3 Self-care disability 0. 7 Independent-living disability 1. 7 Any of the six limitations 6. 0 Receipt of disability payments 4. 7 Any of the six limitations or receipt of disability payments 8. 7

Shares of People with Disabilities, by Disability Type

Housing Characteristics Studied ● ● ● Rating of unit Size: square footage, persons/room, square feet/person Manufactured or mobile home Community services provided Amenities: dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, central air conditioning, garbage disposal, stove or oven, fire extinguisher, carbon-monoxide detector, garage ● Deficiencies: holes in the floor, peeling paint, evidence of rodents, leaks inside or outside, toilet breakdowns, incomplete plumbing, unsafe drinking water, open cracks in the foundation, missing electrical outlets

Housing Characteristics, by Disability Status

Neighborhood Characteristics Studied ● Rating of neighborhood ● Neighborhood wealth: median income, average fair market rent ● Benefits: access to public transportation, proximity to stores, satisfactory police protection ● Problems: crime, odors, noise, vandalism, presence of trash, proximity to roads in need of repair, proximity to heavy transportation

Neighborhood Characteristics, by Disability Status

Multivariate Methods ● Estimated regression models – Outcomes: housing, neighborhood characteristics – Controls: age, education, marital status, gender, race, ethnicity, citizenship, household income, region, urbanicity, number in the household – Explanatory variable of interest: disability status

Results ● Disability remains statistically significant after controlling for other characteristics – 9. 4 percentage-point increase in probability of housing deficiency – 7. 9 percentage-point increase in probability of neighborhood problems ● Estimated effect of disability is smaller than unadjusted differences

Results: Type of Disability ● Having multiple limitations leads to even larger negative effects ● Receiving disability payments is associated with a reduction in the negative effects of disability ● Effect of disability on presence of housing deficiencies: – +11. 2 percentage points (one limitation) – +19. 6 percentage points (multiple limitations) – +4. 3 percentage points (disability income)

Limitations ● We did not control for savings or expenditures ● For people with disabilities, residence choice may be motivated by different factors ● We cannot definitively state direction of causality

Use of Housing Assistance, by Disability Status

Multivariate Results: Disability and Housing Assistance ● Disability is a significant determinant of housing-assistance receipt – Disability is associated with an 8 percentage-point increase in the probability of receiving housing assistance ● Receipt of housing assistance slightly reduces the (negative) effect of disability on housing and neighborhood characteristics

Effect of Housing Assistance on Housing and Neighborhood Characteristics ● Certain types of housing assistance were associated with negative characteristics – Public housing, rent control ● The benefit of housing assistance varies by disability status – Larger positive impact of low-cost mortgages for people with disabilities relative to people without disabilities – For people with disabilities, housing vouchers were associated with significant positive effects

Implications of Findings ● Disability is significantly associated with many negative housing and neighborhood characteristics – Less disposable income due to disability-related expenditures – Difficulty identifying and fixing deficiencies – May only consider options close to family ● Housing assistance reduces the negative effects of disability on housing characteristics – Vouchers are the most beneficial type of housing assistance for people with disabilities

Contact Information Denise Whalen Center for Studying Disability Policy Mathematica Policy Research 600 Maryland Ave. , SW, Suite 550 Washington, DC 20024 (202) 554 -7517 dwhalen@mathematica-mpr. com www. Disability. Policy. Research. org