Why do larger public housing agencies have longer wait times? Understanding applicant duration on the waitlist

Stories of lengthy wait lists for subsidized housing assistance are rampant in newspapers, housing advocacy groups and tenant organizations and this anecdotal evidence often points to populous cities with large housing agencies as having the most unreasonable wait times. Is this phenomenon a result of housing agency size or are there other determinants that lead to longer applicant duration on the waitlist? This study hypothesized that larger public housing agencies (PHAs) have longer average wait times for applicants and that within the agencies' spectrum of programs, voucher programs have longer average wait times than public housing programs. Previous studies had either focused solely on waitlist characteristics or the effect of agency size on management efficiency. The present study provides quantitative analysis on the relationship between agency size (i.e. the number of units administered) and average applicant wait time, which is largely absent from existing literature.