Increasing landlord interest in the HCV program

Last registered on June 06, 2022

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Increasing landlord interest in the HCV program

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0008686

Initial registration date

May 31, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

June 06, 2022, 5:21 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country

United States of America

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Jessica Lasky-Fink

Affiliation

University of California, Berkeley

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Elizabeth Linos

PI Affiliation

University of California, Berkeley

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2022-02-01

End date

2022-12-31

Keywords

Behavior

Additional Keywords

Administrative burden; Social policy

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

Federal rental assistance programs are one of the largest and most effective anti-poverty programs in the US, lifting over three million people out of poverty every year. The largest rental assistance program, the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, has been found to dramatically reduce homelessness and housing instability, and facilitate geographic and economic mobility. But its success depends crucially on participation from landlords, which determines both how many units are available to voucher holders and where these units are located. In a randomized experiment conducted in partnership with the Public Housing Authority (PHA) in a mid-sized US city, we will test the impact of targeted outreach on property owners’ interest in participating in the city’s HCV program.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Lasky-Fink, Jessica and Elizabeth Linos. 2022. "Increasing landlord interest in the HCV program." AEA RCT Registry. June 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8686-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

In a clustered stratified randomization, all property owners in the city will be randomly assigned to receive one of three postcards advertising the HCV program. Each postcard will provide basic information about the program, as well as a link to an interest form where property owners can request more information, sign up to attend an informational workshop, or register their interest in the HCV program. The primary outcome of interest form submissions will be tracked for four weeks after the intervention mail date.

Intervention Start Date

2022-06-01

Intervention End Date

2022-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Property owner interest in the HCV program: All three mailers will direct property owners to the PHA’s online interest form via a shortened URL and QR code. “Interest” will be defined as any form submission in the four weeks following mailing of the intervention. Interest will be measured at the property owner level. If a property owner with multiple rental addresses submits the interest form for any of their rental units, this will be defined as a successful form submission.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Click-throughs: Each mailer will have a unique URL that directs to the PHA’s property owner interest form. We will not be able to track individual click-throughs, but we will evaluate differences in aggregate click-throughs by condition.

Total form submissions: Each mailer will direct to a separate (identical) form. This will allow us to evaluate differences in the total number of form submissions per condition, including responses from landlords who do not provide their address, as well as those whose address cannot be matched back to the experimental universe because of data quality issues.

Survey-based outcomes: See attached analysis plan.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

In a stratified clustered randomization, all unique property owners who are not currently participating in the HCV program will be randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Property owners will be clustered by address and name, and the randomization will be stratified by cluster size and modal rental address neighborhood.

Experimental Design Details

See attached analysis plan.

Randomization Method

Randomization will be conducted in Stata 15.

Randomization Unit

Clusters of rental address, property owner name, and property owner address.

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

12,715

Sample size: planned number of observations

13,604 unique property owner addresses, reflecting 19,543 rental addresses.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

The final experimental universe includes 12,715 clusters, representing 19,543 rental addresses and 13,604 unique property owner addresses.
*Condition 0 = 4525 property owner addresses
*Condition 1 = 4544 property owner addresses
*Condition 2 = 4535 property owner addresses

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

MDE = 1pp

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB