This paper studies housing vouchers and urban redevelopment programs by incorporating neighborhood effects into a general equilibrium overlapping-generations model with endogenous location choice and child development. We calibrate the model using US data and estimate impacts of large-scale implementations of rental voucher and place-based subsidy policies. Our core finding is that vouchers generate long-run welfare gains by reducing inequality and generating skill improvements that offset higher taxation and other GE effects. Although vouchers lead to larger welfare gains on average, we find housing supply.

We study a simple savings scheme that allows workers to defer receipt of part of their wages for three months at zero interest. The scheme significantly increases savings during the deferral period, leading to higher postdisbursement spending on lumpy goods. Two years later, after two additional rounds of the savings scheme, we find that treated workers have made permanent improvements to their homes. The popularity of the scheme implies a lack of good alternative savings options. The results of a follow-up experiment suggest that demand for the scheme is partly due to its ability to address self-control issues.