The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,000 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,000 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
Our affiliated professors are based at over 120 universities and conduct randomized evaluations around the world to design, evaluate, and improve programs and policies aimed at reducing poverty. They set their own research agendas, raise funds to support their evaluations, and work with J-PAL staff on research, policy outreach, and training.
Our research, policy, and training work is fundamentally better when it is informed by a broad range of perspectives.
Promoting housing stability for the millions of households facing eviction annually is a critical policy objective, and a key question is how to target limited emergency assistance funds. This project evaluates an eviction prevention program in Pierce County, Washington, for tenants at imminent risk of eviction. The intervention provides up to 3 months of rental arrears, and four months of current and future rent. A second treatment arm adds proactive case management on top of assistance. We are collaborating with Pierce County Human Services (PCHS), which has made its $8.4 million budget for eviction prevention services available for this evaluation. We anticipate a sample size of 3600 tenants, with 510 assigned to rental assistance only and 510 assigned to rental assistance and case management. The primary goal of this research is to assess whether emergency assistance reduces the likelihood that tenants have an eviction judgment or enter a homeless shelter. A secondary goal is to learn, using both an intake survey and linked administrative data, whether households can be targeted ex ante as being more likely to benefit from emergency funds. We will study alternative approaches to targeting using data from the RCT.