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For example, providing free breakfast & lunch in schools addresses malnutrition of poor children much better than providing the same resources indirectly through their families, especially in various cases of dysfunctional alcoholic parents.

Subsidized housing, day care, etc? Food stamps aren't a great example because you can sell them. You can't sell the $800 you save in subsidized housing. You can't sell a service.

> You can't sell the $800 you save in subsidized housing.

People sublease housing units without permission (and even outright illegally, even before considering rental contract limits) all the time. This includes units that are subject to one form or another of public support, whether its rent control or section 8. So, yes, you absolutely can sell (as for Food Stamp benefits, usually at a value less than the subsidy) the benefit you receive from a housing voucher.

Food stamps? After-school programs?

Food stamp administration has gotten better over the past 10 - 15 years, but as someone else in this discussion pointed out it is still fairly easy to turn food assistance into cash if you want to.

After-school programs only work if the kid actually goes to them.