Subsidizing Car Ownership for Low-Income Individuals and Households

Abstract

This article presents the findings from interviews with thirty individuals, living in Maryland and Virginia, who received subsidized cars from a nonprofit organization to examine how their lives changed when they received a subsidized car. Having a car eased their daily travel, and enabled access to higher paying jobs, moving to neighborhoods with more opportunities, and access to education and enrichment activities for recipients and their children. I also situate the subsidized cars within interviewees’ mobility history. Most had owned cars before, and subsidized car ownership programs offer low-income consumers a safe alternative to a risky and expensive market for used cars.