Examines how housing & social service policies affect beneficiaries, particularly persons receiving public assistance, when such beneficiaries gain employment & experience a rise in income. Also analyzes the extent to which existing laws regarding housing & other programs create disincentives to upward income mobility. Charts & tables. Also includes a 30-page report by the Nat. Research Council, Institute of Medicine: New Findings on Children, Families, & Economic Self-Sufficiency: Summary of a Research BriefingÓ (1995).