Costs and benefits of housing subsidies to tenants from voluntary and involuntary rent control: a comparison between tenures and income groups

This paper estimates the economic subsides to housing for different groups using the 1988 Joseph Rowntree Memorial Trust sample survey of households.An Olsen type model is used to estimate consumber surplus to households from subsidized housing.These estimates are compared to costs, and housing services in the owner occupier market. Poorer families receive larger benefits than richer families. Transfer efficiency is not high; but the local authority sector receives the greatest benefits from controlled rents.