By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
New research suggests the expansion of single-family rental housing could provide families who cannot afford to purchase homes in certain neighborhoods greater access to higher-performing public schools, with economically disadvantaged students showing some of the strongest academic gains.
The study, conducted by economists Tom Mayock of Virginia Tech and Kelly Vosters of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, examined how growth in single-family rentals affected school access and student achievement in North Carolina between 2007 and 2016.
For decades, access to public schools has been closely connected to housing. Because many school attendance zones rely on geographic boundaries, families seeking access to particular schools often must first find housing within those neighborhoods.
Historically, the supply of single-family rental homes in many higher-income neighborhoods has been limited. Single-family homes were predominantly owner-occupied, while rental inventory was more heavily concentrated in multifamily developments in other parts of a community.
For families unable to meet the income, down payment, credit or mortgage requirements necessary to purchase a home, those housing patterns can also narrow their educational options.
Mayock and Vosters found that the expansion of single-family rentals began to change that dynamic by decoupling residence in some higher-performing school zones from the requirement of purchasing expensive real estate.
Much of the modern expansion of the single-family rental market followed the 2008 financial crisis. As foreclosure rates increased nationwide, investors purchased distressed properties and converted many into rentals. As the housing market recovered, the strategy expanded beyond foreclosures to include nondistressed homes and eventually dedicated build-to-rent communities.
What began largely with the acquisition of distressed properties evolved into a broader segment of the housing market, including homes purchased specifically as rentals and communities built expressly for renters.
Between 2007 and 2016, the nation’s supply of single-family rentals expanded by approximately 30%, according to the research. Crucially, some of that growth occurred in neighborhoods where rental units had previously been scarce, including suburban communities zoned for higher-performing public schools.
To determine whether that increased housing access translated into improved educational outcomes, Mayock and Vosters linked student-level education records from the North Carolina Education Research Data Center with administrative real estate data. Their analysis followed students in grades three through eight from 2007 to 2016.
The researchers found that as single-family rentals became more available in attendance zones served by schools with stronger academic performance, renter households gained greater access to those schools. Children moving into those areas experienced statistically significant increases in standardized end-of-grade test scores.
The gains were particularly significant among economically disadvantaged students, suggesting that increased rental availability can provide educational opportunities for some families facing financial barriers to homeownership.
The researchers also considered the potential academic disruption associated with moving.
Students changing schools may encounter different curricula, teachers, academic expectations and social environments. Previous research has produced mixed findings about whether the educational benefits of moving to a higher-performing school outweigh the short-term disruption associated with relocation.
Mayock and Vosters found that among the students they studied, the academic benefits associated with access to higher-performing schools outweighed those transitional disruptions.
They also examined whether an influx of students from renter households negatively affected children already attending those schools, including long-term residents and students who did not move.
The analysis found no evidence of negative academic spillover effects. Test-score performance among students who did not move remained stable, suggesting that the academic gains experienced by incoming students did not come at the expense of existing students.
The significance of those findings potentially extends beyond immediate test scores. Academic performance can influence longer-term educational and economic opportunities, making the relationship between housing access and student achievement relevant to broader discussions about economic mobility.
The findings take on additional significance in Seattle, where high housing costs can limit both homeownership and rental options and city leaders are pursuing multiple strategies to increase housing supply and affordability.
In December 2025, the Seattle City Council changed Neighborhood Residential zoning to allow middle housing, including townhomes, duplexes, cottage housing and stacked flats, across the city. In January, Mayor Katie B. Wilson’s administration proposed another zoning package that would expand opportunities for apartments and condominiums in new and expanded neighborhood and urban centers and along transit corridors.
The city is also investing in housing outside the traditional private market. In February, the City Council unanimously approved an agreement directing approximately $115 million to the Seattle Social Housing Developer to acquire and build permanently affordable, publicly owned housing.
“Housing is far too expensive in this city. We need more housing of all types and all sizes, and social housing is part of the solution,” said Wilson when the agreement was approved.
Those efforts are separate from the single-family rental expansion examined by Mayock and Vosters, but they provide local context for a city grappling with housing availability and affordability.
Seattle’s high rental costs also complicate comparisons with the North Carolina findings. Greater availability of single-family rentals does not necessarily mean those homes will be affordable to low- and moderate-income households, particularly in high-cost neighborhoods.
For Black families in Seattle, the relationship between housing, geography and opportunity also carries historical significance. Racially restrictive covenants once prevented Black residents and other racial and ethnic groups from purchasing or occupying property in parts of Seattle and King County, while discriminatory lending and other housing practices contributed to residential segregation and barriers to homeownership.
Although those practices were eventually outlawed, disparities in housing access and homeownership remain part of the broader context surrounding discussions about neighborhood opportunity and generational wealth.
The findings also add another dimension to the ongoing debate over institutional investment in single-family housing.
Institutional investors have faced criticism over concerns that large-scale purchases can increase competition for available homes and make it more difficult for prospective buyers to enter the housing market. Homeownership also remains an important way for families to build long-term wealth.
The Mayock and Vosters research identifies another potential effect: Converting some single-family homes into rentals can increase access to neighborhoods for families unable to purchase property there.
The study does not resolve the broader debate over institutional ownership or determine whether increased rental access outweighs concerns about homeownership, affordability and wealth creation. Instead, it identifies another way changes in the housing market can affect families beyond the cost of shelter.
The North Carolina findings also cannot be directly applied to Seattle. Housing costs, rental markets, school assignment policies and neighborhood demographics differ substantially between regions, and the study examined housing and student outcomes from 2007 to 2016.
Still, the research highlights the connection between two policy areas often discussed separately.
Housing policy typically focuses on affordability, supply, rent and homeownership, while education policy centers on classrooms, teachers, funding and student achievement. Where school assignments are influenced by a family’s address, however, housing can also affect which educational opportunities are available to children.
For families unable to purchase homes in certain neighborhoods, single-family rentals can remove homeownership as one barrier to living there. The research suggests that, under the conditions studied in North Carolina, increased rental access also produced measurable academic benefits for some children, particularly those from economically disadvantaged households.
In high-cost markets such as Seattle, affordability remains an additional barrier. But the study adds to a broader understanding of how housing availability, neighborhood access and educational opportunity can intersect.
