Designed as a temporary housing option for low-income individuals, public housing has often been argued to be a permanent home for many of its residents. Longer durations of time spent on housing assistance have led to debates around public housing as more of a cause than an effect of poverty spells. This article analyzes the determinants of exit among public housing residents. Using a sample from the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics, this article ascertains the individual characteristics and neighborhood factors associated with longer spell durations. The results suggest that most public housing residents exit public housing in the first 5 years. In terms of individual characteristics, spell length, age and income played a modest role in understanding public housing exits. In addition, neighborhoods with higher levels of poverty and median household income had significant positive effects on the odds of exiting public housing. However, the effect sizes of household characteristics and neighborhood conditions were relatively small when considering the post-1996 era of policy reform. The results suggest that public housing exits may largely be due to shifts in housing policy and social welfare programs rather than household characteristics and neighborhood conditions.

作为低收入个人的临时住房选择，公共住房经常被认为是许多居民的永久住所。花费在住房援助上的时间越长，导致围绕公共住房的争论更多是贫困的原因而不是结果。本文分析了公屋居民退出的决定因素。本文使用收入动态小组调查的样本，确定了与较长法术持续时间相关的个人特征和邻里因素。结果表明，大多数公共住房居民在前 5 年退出公共住房。就个人特征而言，时间长度、年龄和收入在理解公共住房退出方面发挥了适度的作用。此外，贫困程度和家庭收入中位数较高的社区对退出公共住房的几率有显着的积极影响。然而，考虑到 1996 年后的政策改革时代，家庭特征和邻里条件的影响大小相对较小。结果表明，公共住房退出可能主要是由于住房政策和社会福利计划的变化，而不是家庭特征和邻里条件。