Impact Study

Impact Evaluation: UC Berkeley & World Bank

In order to test the effectiveness of the UTPMP program, we are collaborating with Professor Paul Gertler from the University of California, Berkeley and the World Bank to design and implement an experimental impact evaluation of the transitional houses.  The study, entitled “Building a Brighter Future: A Randomized Experiment of Slum-Housing Upgrading,” is funded through a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council.  It seeks to evaluate the effect of transitional houses on the health and welfare of the target population, as well as potential spill-over effects on the slum community at large.

The evaluation is taking place in three separate countries: El Salvador, Peru and Uruguay.  To date, the baseline data and housing construction has been competed in El Salvador and Uruguay; preliminary results will be available by January of 2010.  The study sample includes roughly 800 randomly-assigned treatment households, 800 internal control households and 800 external control households.

The UTPMP impact evaluation will provide some of the first rigorous empirical evidence on the effects of low-cost housing on the living conditions, health and welfare of the extreme poor in Latin America.  Thus, it will be useful for governments, NGOs and donors in evaluating whether such programs should be considered cost-effective strategies for fighting poverty.  To our knowledge, this study constitutes the first randomized experiment to assess the impact of housing in informal settlements in the developing world.