The Urban Institute’s recent report “Driving to Opportunity” examines the link between access to cars and the effectiveness of federal housing choice vouchers (rental vouchers), which are designed to help low-income families leave high-poverty neighborhoods and reduce their dependence on public assistance. The analysis found that families with access to cars, compared to families without access to cars (i.e., those dependent on public transportation), moved to neighborhoods with:
- lower concentrations of poverty,
- higher concentrations of employed adults,
- higher median rents and more owner-occupied housing,
- higher levels of school performance,
- greater access to open space, and
- lower levels of cancer risk.
