We hypothesized that children living in households eligible for federal food and/or housing assistance and receiving these benefits have higher odds of being housing secure than children in households that are eligible for but not receiving food and/or housing benefits, after controlling for potential confounding factors. Additionally, children living in households that have lost housing or food assistance benefits will have lower odds of being housing secure than children in households that have not lost food or housing benefits, after controlling for potential confounding factors.

Long-term, stable, adequate funding for housing assistance is crucial for increasing family housing security. Furthermore, stable, adequate funding for nutrition assistance may have implications beyond decreasing hunger, potentially increasing housing security as well. Legislative or regulatory changes at the federal or state level can resolve differences in application requirements across programs or in procedural requirements for redetermination. In doing so, this will provide linked applications for benefit programs, which will preserve the viability of those programs under financial constraint. Moreover, these program linkages may support greater family access to benefits to which they are entitled to, and also save money while improving delivery efficiency.