Access to affordable, stable, and high quality child care and housing and are essential to families’ economic stability, parents’ ability to work, and children’s healthy development. But due to inadequate funding, just 1 in 6 children eligible for child care assistance — and 1 in 5 families with children eligible for housing assistance — receives it.

As a result, many low-income families struggle to pay for child care and housing, and many are forced into low-quality child care arrangements and substandard housing. This paper, jointly published by CLASP and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) dives into the importance and opportunities related to child care and housing policy.

A forthcoming budget deal must provide adequate funding for domestic priorities and subsequently use some of those funds to make sizable new investments in child care and housing assistance. Investing in these areas would dramatically help families with low incomes, improving their economic stability, reducing poverty, and improving children’s long-term prospects which will pay dividends to the nation as a whole.