The use of rental housing assistance by immigrants in the United States and New York City

The large influx of immigrants to the United States and New York City from poorer countries has sparked considerable debate as to whether immigrants a re becoming a "public charge" to American society. Most arguments have cent ered around immigrants' use of cash assistance programs. This article compa res immigrants' receipt of rental housing assistance with that of native-bo rn Americans. Bivariate analyses reveal that immigrants, as a group, are no more likely t han native-born households to use any form of rental housing assistance. In deed, in most instances immigrants are less Likely than native-bow househol ds to receive assistance, with two exceptions: immigrants who have been in the United States since 1970 and immigrants from the former Soviet Union in New York City. Multivariate analyses reveal similar results, except that i mmigrants who have been in the United States since 1970 are no more likely than other immigrants to receive housing assistance when we control for oth er factors.