Fourth Annual Report of the Housing Assistance Supply Experiment

Describes progress of the Supply Experiment from October 1976 through September 1977 and summarizes the first two years of the experimental housing allowance program. Although the two sites (Brown County, Wisconsin, and St. Joseph County, Indiana) were chosen for sharp contrasts in population, housing quality, and market conditions, results have been quite similar. In both places about 8 percent of all households are enrolled in the program, mostly elderly people or single parents. In neither has the housing market or neighborhood stability been noticeably perturbed. The allowance program has in fact become an accepted institution in both communities, with its main effects judged to be on participants (who receive an average allowance of $900) and their housing (more than 2,400 dwellings in Brown County and 4,000 in St. Joseph County have been repaired — most at little cost — by those seeking to qualify for payments).