Universal Access to Counsel, Housing Court Filings, and Child Mental Health: Evidence from New York City

We link data from Medicaid to housing court records to study the relationship between housing instability and children's mental health. Of Medicaid children aged 4-17 in New York City, 14 percent faced housing court from 2016-2019. Using rollout of universal access to counsel as an instrument, we find that children in families with possessory judgments are 1.6 times more likely to move, 8 times more likely to experience homelessness, and 53 percent more likely to have mental health claims. Effects are strongest for children without preexisting conditions and are not explained by use of health care more generally.