Our view of the value of government-provided housing assistance tends to concentrate on the direct impacts of assistance - the impact of a rent subsidy, for example, on a household's housing costs and as an element of government outlays. But housing assistance also has positive effects, for example, on people's education and health, on their employment prospects, and on crime and community cohesion. This study is concerned with the impacts at the individual or family level and the associated impacts on government.