Data and Code for Universal Access to Counsel, Housing Court Filings, and Child Mental Health: Evidence From New York City

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Mike Cassidy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Janet Currie, Princeton University; Sherry Glied, New York University; Renata Howland, New York University

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
CCSR_HousingCourt_Alldx.sas application/x-sas 29.5 KB 04/18/2025 06:30:AM
CCSR_HousingCourt_PrinDiag.sas application/x-sas 30.7 KB 04/18/2025 06:37:AM
CCSR_MedicaidSample.sas application/x-sas 29.6 KB 04/22/2025 11:26:AM
DXCCSR_v2023-1.csv text/csv 19.5 MB 12/17/2024 11:55:AM
MonthYearDates.xlsx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet 11.5 KB 04/17/2025 02:02:PM
PanelConstruct_50per.sas application/x-sas 19.4 KB 03/20/2025 07:36:AM
Panel_Homeless_100per.sas application/x-sas 19.7 KB 12/20/2024 05:55:AM
Panel_HousingCourt_100per.sas application/x-sas 19.7 KB 04/22/2025 11:26:AM
Panel_MedicaidSample_50per.sas application/x-sas 19.1 KB 04/23/2025 01:34:PM
README.pdf application/pdf 145.5 KB 04/23/2025 01:57:PM

Project Citation: 

Cassidy, Mike, Currie, Janet, Glied, Sherry, and Howland, Renata. Data and Code for Universal Access to Counsel, Housing Court Filings, and Child Mental Health: Evidence From New York City. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2025. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-05-20. https://doi.org/10.3886/E227506V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary
This paper examines the effect of housing instability on homelessness and children’s health. Specifically, we examine families who had a case filed against them in New York City (NYC) housing court. We ask how receiving a possessory judgment, which is the first step towards eviction, affects future housing stability and the physical and mental health of children in affected families. We merge housing court records to Medicaid claims, which feature detailed address histories, to track children’s health care utilization and housing situations before and after housing case filings. Our results show that housing court filings and possessory judgments lead to housing instability and homelessness even when they do not lead to formal eviction.     Adverse housing court outcomes, in turn, lead to increased mental health diagnoses and treatment among school-aged children, especially in those without previous mental health claims.   In an important extension to prior work, we find that the right to counsel not only reduces negative outcomes in housing court, but also improves housing stability and reduces child mental health claims, suggesting that the benefits of universal access to counsel go beyond the courtroom.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms housing court; homelessness ; eviction; children's mental health; Medicaid
JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      H75 State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
      I10 Health: General
      I18 Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
      I38 Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
      R21 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Housing Demand
      R38 Production Analysis and Firm Location: Government Policy
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1/1/2016 – 12/31/2020


Related Publications

Download this project

Published Versions

V1 [2025-05-20]

Export Metadata

Dublin Core

DDI 2.5

Report a Problem

Found a serious problem with the data, such as disclosure risk or copyrighted content? Let us know.

This material is distributed exactly as it arrived from the data depositor. ICPSR has not checked or processed this material. Users should consult the investigator(s) if further information is desired.