South African housing subsidies: the challenges of measuring the impact of a productive asset

When analysing the impact of South African housing subsidies on poverty, Goldman, Woolard & Jellema (forthcoming) find that the housing programme looks less progressive than expected. They find both that: i) imputed rent for subsidised housing increases with earnings despite similar cost and specifications for all subsidised housing, and ii) roughly a third of households that earn more than 20% above the threshold report receiving subsidized housing. This policy note examines this result, and highlights the challenges for policymakers of evaluating the targeting success of a programme that provides subsidies in the form of productive assets.