Spotlight on Poverty

... The second step is to study whether a low- or no-cost intervention could be designed that would allow HUD to incorporate FSS-type features into the very fabric of rental assistance and offer them to everyone in subsidized housing. Reid Cramer and I have developed one approach for doing so and would urge that it be tested rigorously against other alternatives to evaluate costs and benefits. ...

Original article

There is no question that major changes will have to be made to the U.S. budget in coming years. Surpluses are never expected to return, the debt is projected to climb to unprecedented levels, and major programs are significantly underfunded, leaving participants uncertain about what benefits they will receive in the future.

For most policymakers, it is never a good time to talk about poverty. When times are flush, their constituents are doing well. When recession hits, everyone is hurting. But as economic hardship continues to impact a greater number of families and communities, this may be the time to redouble our search for innovative and potentially effective ways to break the cycle of poverty.