Exploring Housing & Education Outcomes

Enterprise and StriveTogether use housing and education outcomes to help guide and measure the impact of our work. While not exhaustive, the outcomes below are grounded in evidence and offer a starting point for identifying shared outcomes in cross-sector work. The following pages summarize each outcome in brief and a full description of the housing and education outcomes is included in Appendices C and D.

Housing Outcomes

Housing Stability
Housing Quality
Housing Affordability
Neighborhood Context
Housing That Builds Assets and Wealth

Education Outcomes

Kindergarten Readiness
Early Grade Reading
Middle Grade Math
High School Graduation
Post-secondary Enrollment
Post-secondary Degree Completion

Shared Housing and Education Outcomes

Each community’s shared outcomes will reflect its unique assets, challenges and goals. This toolkit provides a framework to help communities identify and develop the shared outcomes that best serve their cross-sector goals, using the above outcomes as a starting point.

Examples of shared outcomes include the following:

Kindergarten readiness for children living in subsidized housing
Stable housing for students experiencing homelessness or near homelessness
Increased high school graduation rates for students living in public housing
Increased attendance and education performance for children living in poor-quality housing

Housing Outcomes

The housing outcomes described below reflect the combined research and experience of Enterprise and the Urban Institute and outline the ways in which housing and related neighborhood factors impact outcomes for individuals and families. While the “cradle-to-career” education outcomes in the next section reflect a linear progression in educational attainment during an individual’s life, housing outcomes are interconnected but not necessarily chronological.

HOUSING OUTCOMES		INDICATORS	EXAMPLE METRICS
Housing Stability	Explore In Depth	Reduction in Homelessness Multiyear Stability Reduction in Evictions	Number of people who are homeless on a single night (HUD Point-in-Time counts) Change of address in student school records (Local educational agency, school or district) Eviction rates (Eviction Lab)
Housing Quality	Explore In Depth	Access to safe and healthy housing Reduced exposure to environmental toxins	Number of families living in deeply distressed or substandard housing American Housing Survey Proximity to environmental hazards Environmental Health Hazard Index
Housing Affordability	Explore In Depth	Lack of cost burden Reduced crowding	The number and percentage of families spending more than 50% of their income on housing American Community Survey The number and percentage of families living in overcrowded units American Community Survey
Neighborhood Context	Explore In Depth	Access to neighborhood amenities and resources Neighborhood safety	Access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) retailers SNAP Retail Locator Number of violent crime incidents within a half mile of a student’s home Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics
Housing That Builds Assets and Wealth	Explore In Depth	Access to home equity Credit and asset building	Homeownership by race/ethnicity American Community Survey

HOUSING OUTCOME: HOUSING STABILITY

Housing stability refers to the ability of residents to live in their homes as long as they choose, without being forced to move due to cost, evictions or other unwanted reasons. Specific indicators are included below.

Indicator: REDUCTION IN HOMELESSNESS refers to an individual’s or household’s ability to remain stably housed, with a “fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.”16

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16 U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. “Key Federal Terms and Definitions of Homelessness Among Youth.” February 2018. www.usich.gov/resources/uploads/asset_library/Federal-Definitions-of-Youth-Homelessness.pdf.

The experience of homelessness is challenging to endure and can result in negative long- term outcomes, particularly for children and youth.

Example Metric: Number of people who are homeless on a single night within a particular geographic area | Source: HUD Point in Time counts

Indicator: MULTIYEAR STABILITY refers to an individual’s or family’s ability to live in their home as long as they choose, without being forced to move due to cost, evictions or other unwanted reasons. Stability over time is particularly important for children, because frequent moves can have detrimental impacts on health, education, employment and overall well-being.

Example Metric: Student turnover within a particular school or district | Source: Local educational agency, school or district

Indicator: REDUCTION IN EVICTIONS indicates fewer involuntary moves that are initiated when a landlord expels renters from a property, whether due to lack of payment, a landlord’s decision to terminate a lease or a renter’s violation of rental agreements. Low-income families paying more than half their income toward housing are particularly vulnerable to evictions and the resulting housing instability.

Example Metric: Eviction rates | Source: Eviction Lab

HOUSING OUTCOME: HOUSING QUALITY

Housing quality that protects and promotes one’s health is free of structural issues and hazards, including severe temperatures and lack of insulation, pests, exposed wiring, mold or mildew, and missing safety features (e.g., fire extinguishers and carbon monoxide detectors). Specific indicators are included below.

Indicator: ACCESS TO SAFE AND HEALTHY HOUSING refers to housing that helps to protect and promote a family’s health and is free of major defects. For children, poor housing quality has been linked to worse health outcomes, which, in turn, affect physical and mental development, school attendance, academic performance, and long-term educational outcomes.

Example Metric: Number of families living in deeply distressed or substandard housing | Source: American Housing Survey

Indicator: REDUCED EXPOSURE TO ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS refers to mitigating exposure to such toxins as radon, lead and air pollution, whether within one’s home or in the surrounding neighborhood. Segregated neighborhoods with unequal access to resources often experience greater exposure to hazards, resulting in disparate outcomes for children and families of color.

Example Metric: Social vulnerability to environmental hazards | Source: Enterprise Opportunity360 Community Dashboard

Indicator: LACK OF COST BURDEN signifies that households are spending no more than 30 percent of their income on housing. Households experiencing a housing cost burden often have to reduce spending in other areas, ultimately affecting their health, educational attainment, professional advancement and overall economic well-being.17

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17 Martha M. Galvez, Maya Brennan, Brady Meixell, and Rolf Pendall. Housing as a Safety Net: Ensuring Housing Security for the Most Vulnerable. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, 2017. www.urban.org/research/publication/housing-safety-net/view/full_report ; Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. America’s Rental Housing: The Key to a Balanced National Policy. Cambridge, MA, 2018. www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/rh08_americas_rental_housing.pdf ; Yumiko Aratani, Michelle Chau, Vanessa R. Wight, and Sophia Addy. Rent Burden, Housing Subsidies and the Well-Being of Children and Youth. New York City, NY: National Center for Children in Poverty, 2011. www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_1043.pdf .

Example Metric: The percentage of families spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent, disaggregated by race |

Source: Enterprise Opportunity 360 Community Dashboard

Indicator: REDUCED CROWDING often is related to the availability of affordable housing and refers to having fewer than 1.5 persons per room living in a home,18

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18 Dowell Myers, William C. Baer, and Seong-Young Choi. “The Changing Problem of Overcrowded Housing,” Journal of the American Planning Association, 62(1)(1996): 66–84; Claudia D. Solari and Robert D. Mare, “Housing Crowding Effects on Children’s Wellbeing.” Social Science Research, 41(2)(2012): 464–476.

although definitions may vary by culture or preference. Crowded living conditions can impact physical and mental health, educational performance and overall long-term economic success.

Example Metric: The percentage of families living in overcrowded homes | Source: Enterprise Opportunity360 Community Dashboard

HOUSING OUTCOME: HOUSING AND NEIGHBORHOODS AS A PLATFORM

Housing and neighborhoods as a platform recognizes the unique impact of the location of a person’s housing on their access to quality schools, jobs and other benefits. Specific indicators are included below.

Indicator: ACCESS TO NEIGHBORHOOD AMENITIES AND RESOURCES includes access to education, transportation, health care and quality jobs, among many other factors. Many high-poverty neighborhoods lack these amenities and resources, limiting access to opportunity and resulting in negative long-term outcomes, particularly for children.

Example Metric: Access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) retailers | Source: SNAP Retail Locator

Indicator: NEIGHBORHOOD SAFETY refers to neighborhoods with low levels of crime, violence and other threats to physical security, such as unsafe sidewalks or streets, that can have a strong influence on resident outcomes. Families with low incomes and few housing options may be confined to segregated, unsafe neighborhoods and can suffer negative outcomes as a result.

Example Metric: The number of violent crime incidents within a half mile of an individual’s home | Source: Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics or locally available crime data

HOUSING OUTCOME: HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

Housing affordability is defined as paying no more than 30 percent of one’s income toward housing costs each month, freeing up resources for other household needs. Specific indicators are included below.

HOUSING OUTCOME: HOUSING THAT BUILDS ASSETS AND WEALTH

Housing that builds assets and wealth contributes to household members’ ability to deploy resources to meet their needs and achieve their goals (e.g., to deal with predictable and unexpected repairs or pursue educational or entrepreneurial goals). Specific indicators are included below.

Indicator: ACCESS TO HOME EQUITY refers to the ability to build equity through homeownership; through stable, affordable loan products or cooperative ownership agreements; and through home value appreciation over time. Although the legacies of racial

discrimination and neighborhood segregation have resulted in unequal access to home equity, access to home equity can be a powerful contributor to long-term economic mobility and security.

Example Metric: Homeownership by race/ethnicity | Source: Enterprise Opportunity360 Community Dashboard

Indicator: CREDIT AND ASSET BUILDING fosters financial security and resiliency for families, allowing them to better manage expected or unexpected expenses through bolstered savings and to access debt financing at lower costs. This financial stability can enable families to put money toward daily needs or longer-term investments, such as education, improving long-term outcomes for children.

Example Metric: Household wealth | Source: Survey of Consumer Finances, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Education Outcomes

The education outcomes presented here were developed by StriveTogether. The seven outcomes described below are organized along a progression from “cradle-to-career,” within a single framework for educational achievement over an individual’s life. Notably, this progression differs from the interconnected but non-linear housing outcomes in the previous section. Other education outcomes may measure educational systems more broadly, focused on school funding and resources, teacher preparation and effectiveness, or school buildings and infrastructure.

EDUCATION FRAMEWORK	OUTCOMES	EXAMPLE METRICS
Cradle-to-Career Achievement	Explore in Depth Kindergarten Readiness	Kindergarten readiness assessments (Local education agency, school or district)
	Explore in Depth Early Grade Reading	Third-grade reading assessments (Local education agency, school or district)
	Explore in Depth Middle Grade Math	Sixth-grade state assessments (Local education agency, school or district)
	Explore in Depth High School Graduation	Graduation rate (Local education agency, school or district)
	Explore in Depth Post-secondary Enrollment	Enrollment in a four-year college or university within 16 months of graduation (Local education agency, school or district)
	Explore in Depth Post-secondary Degree Completion	Four-year completion rate at four-year colleges and universities National Student Clearinghouse and other privately operated post-secondary tracking services

EDUCATION OUTCOMES: CRADLE-TO-CAREER ACHIEVEMENT

The cradle-to-career framework represents the roadmap of a student’s journey through educational achievement to successful employment, with each outcome building on the previous outcome.

Outcome: KINDERGARTEN READINESS affects future academic achievement and life success. Children develop fundamental skills in early childhood that build strong foundations for reading, counting and social interactions. Studies show that as a child’s kindergarten readiness scores improve, third-grade reading and math scores rise accordingly.

Example Metric: Pre-K Enrollment | Source: Local education agency, school or district

Outcome: EARLY GRADE READING and overall literacy are critical to a child’s academic success. Children in the early grades begin to transition from learning to read to reading to learn. Reading at grade level is one of the strongest predictors of later success in school, with data showing the link between disparities in literacy during the early grades and persistent achievement gaps.

Example Metric: Performance on third-grade reading state assessments | Source: Local education agency administrative data

Outcome: MIDDLE GRADE MATH has become an important milestone for high school persistence, academic achievement, college attainment and readiness for the workforce. Research indicates that students who successfully complete middle grade math perform better in geometry, advanced algebra, trigonometry and calculus. A child’s math curriculum also has a strong link to college enrollment.

Example Metric: Performance on eighth-grade math state assessments | Source: Local education agency administrative data

Outcome: HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION allows graduates to earn higher wages and see better results in other measures of personal and social welfare, such as health and relationships. High school graduation also impacts families, as increasing the educational attainment of parents has been shown to improve their children’s academic and social outcomes.

Example Metric: Four-year cohort graduation rate | Source: Local school districts

Outcome: POST-SECONDARY ENROLLMENT marks a critical transition in the cradle-to-career pipeline. Students of color and those in low-income households are less likely to pursue education beyond high school. As more careers require additional preparation, it is critical to ensure access to options and financial aid information for four-year degrees, two-year programs and technical certifications.

Example Metric: Enrollment in a two-year college within 16 months of graduation for Promise Neighborhood high schools | Source:

National Student Clearinghouse and other privately operated post-secondary tracking services

Outcome: POST-SECONDARY DEGREE COMPLETION is more valuable than ever, because degrees and certifications open doors to meaningful jobs and stable futures. Workers with at least a bachelor’s degree can earn more than individuals with only a high school diploma, and post-secondary attainment also leads to improved health and social outcomes. Society benefits from a more educated population, including lower crime rates and more community involvement.

Example Metric: Six-year post-secondary completion rate (at four-year colleges and universities) | Source: National Student Clearinghouse and other privately operated post-secondary tracking services

Outcome: EMPLOYMENT, particularly when post-secondary graduates are connected to good jobs, is the ultimate goal of the cradle-to- career pipeline. Students who are employed within a year of graduation are on their way to achieving self-sufficiency. When a community’s workforce is fully engaged, the entire community is stronger.

Example Metric: Labor market engagement and employment rate | Source: Enterprise Opportunity360 Community Dashboard

Amplifying Cross-Sector Collaboration

Identifying shared outcomes or goals helps to build consensus among diverse partners and facilitate coordinated programmatic, financial and policy efforts to affect change and amplify impact. Collaborating around shared outcomes also helps to illuminate interdependencies across multiple partners or sectors. For example, many education-focused organizations increasingly recognize the difficulty of improving kindergarten readiness if families are living in unstable, unaffordable or poor-quality housing. By measuring and tracking progress toward shared outcomes, partners can benefit from continuous learning and demonstrate their impact over time.19

The grand challenges of our time also present a striking opportunity for new processes of co-creating change and new outcomes.20

- JEANINE BECKER AND DAVID B. SMITH

The following case study highlights how the goals of two distinct sectors can be brought together as a shared outcome. The Venn diagram included in the case study will be used throughout the toolkit to illustrate examples of shared outcomes between housing and education partners.

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20 Jeanine Becker & David B. Smith. “The Need for Cross-Sector Collaboration.” Stanford Social Innovation Review. Winter 2018. ssir.org/articles/entry/the_need_for_cross_sector_collaboration

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19 Maggie Grieve. “Shared Measurement: Advancing Evaluation of Community Development Outcomes — Success Measures at NeighborWorks of America.” In What Counts: Harnessing Data for America’s Communities, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the Urban Institute, 2014, pp. 278–95. successmeasures.org/sites/all/files/What%20Counts%20M.Grieve%20Essay%201.pdf.

Case Study: After-School Programming in Affordable Housing Complexes

Lead Organization: Star-C

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

“An education model with an affordable housing solution,” Star-C is a nonprofit in Atlanta, Georgia, that coordinates community services at affordable housing complexes. Star-C identifies and works with private landlords who own or manage market-rate apartment complexes near schools experiencing high rates of student mobility or transiency. Through this partnership, private landlords agree to keep rents affordable and cover half the costs for community services, including after-school programs, community gardening, and health and wellness navigation. Affordable rents and community services can help families achieve stability and reduce student mobility and transiency. In turn, Star-C coordinates the programming and covers the remaining service costs through donations and grants. Star-C also partners with community-based organizations and school districts to provide additional services and student support.

Housing Goal:

Provide affordable rents to low- income households to reduce instability and turnover.

Education Goal:

Reduce student mobility in elementary schools located near apartment complexes to increase the consistency of children’s schooling and other academic supports.

Shared Housing and Education Outcome:

Through landlord partnerships, Star-C’s programming will stabilize apartment communities and reduce rental turnover, allowing local schools to experience reduced student transiency.

Want to learn more about housing-based programming for students and families? Take a look at the case study in Stage 4: Housing-Based Education Initiatives. Ready to move through the partnership stages? Get started with the Mobilizing Partnerships for Housing & Education section.