The federally assisted public housing program was launched with enactment of the US Housing Act of 1937 and has evolved over 4 decades of piecemeal legislation. As a welfare conveyor, public housing is a straightforward attempt to reduce the number of people living in substandard housing. This study provides an estimate of the cash outlay that would be required to make families moving into Little Rock, Arkansas, public housing during the 1979 fiscal year equally well off. These households could then contract for housing service in the private sector. The discussion also considers: 1. a determination of how efficiently federal expenditures are transformed into an increase in tenant welfare, and 2. net-tenant-benefit equity implications. The analysis reveals that the average federal dollar's worth of Little Rock public housing increased the average tenant welfare of families moving into these dwelling units during 1979 by about $.88. It is argued that the Cobb-Douglas specification overestimates the benefits.