Individual Development Accounts and Homeownership among Low-income Adults with Disabilities: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment

We examined the long-term effects of Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), savings accounts that match funds deposited by participants for qualified purposes, on homeownership rates among study participants with disabilities in a randomized experiment. Results from a 10-year follow-up of the IDAs indicate that rates of homeownership were nearly 10 percentage points higher for treatment participants with disabilities than for control-group members with disabilities (p <.10). The impacts of IDAs seem to vary with the baseline socioeconomic characteristics of participants—particularly with homeownership, bank account ownership, and public housing assistance. We conclude by discussing policy implications of using asset-building programs to support people with disabilities.