Moving to Work

The Moving To Work (MTW) program, authorized by section 204 of the Omnibus Consolidated Rescissions and Appropriations Act of 1996, offers a limited number of housing authorities the opportunity to design and test innovative strategies for addressing the needs of their tenants and communities.

MTW agencies have the flexibility to find new approaches that accomplish three primary statutory goals:

Reducing cost and achieving greater cost effectiveness in federal expenditures;
Giving incentives to families with children where the head of household is working, is seeking work, or is preparing for work by participating in job training, educational programs, or programs that assist people to obtain employment and become economically self-sufficient; and
Increasing housing choices for low-income families.

MTW Agencies

There are currently 80 housing authorities with MTW status.

39 original MTW agencies have agency-specific MTW agreements with HUD, detailing the flexibilities granted in order to meet program goals, and each have had their agreements extended through the end of 2028. Each year, the housing authority completes an annual plan, to be approved by HUD, and an annual report on the outcomes achieved. Congress authorized the expansion of the MTW program to 100 additional agencies in the 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act.

In January 2021, HUD announced the 31 agencies that have been selected for Cohort 1 of the MTW Expansion. This cohort is comprised of PHAs with 1,000 or fewer aggregate units of public housing and Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) units.

In May 2021, HUD announced the 10 public housing agencies (PHAs) that were selected for Cohort 2 of the MTW Expansion. This cohort will evaluate stepped and tiered rent policies.

HUD has indicated that the future third and fourth cohorts of the MTW Expansion will evaluate work requirements and landlord incentives.

MTW News

1.28.25

OMB Pauses All Federal Financial Assistance

eLOCCS is Reported to be Closed January 28

Late on January 27, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a memorandum, which directs all federal agencies to pause all “federal financial assistance” (FFA) "to the extent permissible under applicable law." The temporary pause in funding will become effective on January 28, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. ET. It is reported eLOCCS is closed on January 28. We are investigating if this is a system wide issue or if it is deliberate, although at this time we understand that at least some PHAs are still locked out.

There is much uncertainty at this time on whether this pause includes Section 8, Public Housing Operating and Capital Funds, HOME, CDBG, Continuum of Care, MTW Demonstration, Choice Neighborhoods, Jobs Plus, Family Self-Sufficiency, Lead Hazard Reduction grants, Project-Based Rental Assistance Demonstration, and other HUD programs. It appears that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Medicaid portal are impacted. We will update you when we have more solid information. 

The memorandum also requires federal agencies to review programs for consistency with the new Administration’s priorities and report to OMB no later than February 10, 2025 on which programs have been paused. OMB may grant exemptions on a case-by-case basis.

Democratic leaders on the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations have called on OMB Acting Director Matthew Vaeth to “reverse course to ensure requirements enacted into law are faithfully met and the nation’s spending laws are implemented as intended.” Advocacy groups have filed a Motion for Temporary Restraining Order in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the White House Office of Management and Budget from pausing all agency grants and loans.

CLPHA will be engaged in meetings with other advocacy organizations, legal counsel, Congressional staff, and HUD leadership today and throughout this process to understand what this memo will mean for PHAs. We will keep our members updated as soon as we learn more.

8.6.24

10 Year Roadmap for Public Housing Sustainability to Create Strategic Framework for Transformed Affordable Housing Stock, Improved Life Outcomes

Learn More at 10yearroadmap.org

Since its inception in the Housing Act of 1937, public housing has faced decades of chronic underfunding and disinvestment. While the last 30 years has brough renewed commitment to new policies and investments in public housing, a cohesive national strategy to recapitalize the public housing portfolio has been lacking. CLPHA is convening a 10 Year Roadmap for Public Housing Sustainability to craft a national approach to preserving the public housing portfolio for the long term.

Unlike previous long-term planning efforts, cross-sector partnerships and services will be at the center of the 10 Year Roadmap’s strategic thinking. Investing in public housing sustainability is not only about transforming the physical environment, but also about investing in the lives of the low-income residents that live there. As thought leaders begin work on the Roadmap, they will champion cross-sector approaches that center public housing as the anchor for services that help residents access education, health care, digital equity, employment, and other opportunities that help residents improve their life outcomes.

The 10 Year Roadmap is helmed by a steering committee, led by three co-chairs:

The Honorable Ritchie Torres, Member, U.S. House of Representatives
The Honorable Shaun Donovan, CEO & President, Enterprise Community Partners; Former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
La Shelle Dozier, Vice President, Council of Large Public Housing Authorities; Executive Director, Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency

Steering Committee members include:

Peggy Bailey, Vice President for Housing and Income Security, Center on Budget & Policy Priorities
Diana Blackwell, Board Member, National Low Income Housing Coalition
Emily Cadik, Chief Executive Officer, Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition
Asia Coney, Resident Commissioner, Philadelphia Housing Authority
Mark Gillett, President, Public Housing Authorities Director’s Association
Ingrid Gould Ellen, Paulette Goddard Professor of Urban Policy and Planning, Director for Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, New York University
Ismael Guerrero, President & CEO, Mercy Housing
George Guy, President, National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials
Priya Jayachandran, CEO, National Housing Trust
Joy Johnson, Resident, Charlottesville Housing Authority
Andy McMahon, Vice President, Impact Investments, Health Equity Strategy Team, UnitedHealth Group
Jeffery K. Patterson, President, Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
Tracey Scott, President, MTW Collaborative
Dennis C. Shea, Executive Director, J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy, Bipartisan Policy Center
Sarah Rosen Wartell, President, Urban Institute
Diane Yentel, President & CEO, National Low Income Housing Coalition

The roadmap process will engage a wide range of stakeholders to advance the continued evolution and preservation of public housing through a 10-year reinvestment plan that establishes a sustainable, deeply affordable, and service-enriched housing platform for residents to achieve their life goals. CLPHA is proud to serve as a convenor for the Roadmap.

The roadmap will marshal the necessary policies, resources, services, and political support to recapitalize the portfolio by leveraging increased and targeted public and private investments through preservation, redevelopment, mixed-used transformations, transfer of assistance, and other innovative strategies. The tools, methods, and mechanisms needed to bring leveraged public and private investments to public housing have been developed over the years. The Roadmap will focus on scaling these tools from piecemeal interventions to a unified national approach that creates expanded, sustainable affordable housing opportunities.

The 10 Year Roadmap Steering Committee held its first meeting at the end of June, and Roadmap Working Groups will launch in August. The Roadmap will present preliminary estimates of the investment needs this fall, and a final report with recommendations by the first quarter of 2025. To learn more about the 10 Year Roadmap for Public Housing Sustainability, visit 10yearroadmap.org.

5.31.24

King County, Seattle, Tacoma Housing Authorities Share MTW Innovations in New Publication

4.17.24

HUD Releases VMS Reporting Requirements for MTW Agencies

HUD has released a new notice on Voucher Management System (VMS) reporting requirements for MTW agencies, which makes reporting into VMS on obligations and commitments mandatory for all MTW agencies. 

Per the PIH 2024-11 notice, which is effective on June 30, 2024, MTW agencies will be required to report on the status of their commitment and obligation activities on a quarterly basis according to the following dates:

The notice directs MTW agencies to the VMS User's Manual for more detailed guidance, including the following definitions for funds committed, type of commitment, funds obligated, and type of obligation:

Funds Committed: The total amount of HCV funds from the Unspent Fund Source that the PHA is segregating in anticipation of a dedication or obligation for eligible MTW activities in the future. This amount should be changed in subsequent reporting if the level of commitment changes but should not be reduced as the commitment moves to obligation.
Type of Commitment: The specific action that commits the funds to the activity, such as a Board Resolution, 5-Year Capital Plan, Annual MTW Plan, PHA Annual Plan/MTW Supplement.
Funds Obligated: The total amount from the commitment that the PHA dedicates an outlay of expenditure of funds, immediately or in the future, for a specific eligible MTW activity. This amount should be changed in subsequent reporting if the level of obligation changes but should not be reduced as the obligated funds are expended.
Type of Obligation: The binding agreement that obligates the funds to the activity, such as an executed contract or purchase/service order. However, in the case of PHA performed MTW eligible activities, and a contract is not necessary, a Board Resolution is the obligating document.

HUD has also created a  MTW HCV Resources website that includes additional training materials on reporting into VMS. Additional questions can be sent to HUD at [email protected]. 

3.27.23

Protect, Expand, Provide: CLPHA's 2023 Policy Priorities

Protecting, expanding. and providing affordable housing has never been so important.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that housing instability and homelessness have disastrous effects on our national economic and public health. Public housing authorities (PHAs) are our nation’s most effective affordable housing delivery system, serving over 3.3 million households under the public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs, with over one million of these households including children. Additionally, over half of public housing and voucher households are headed by a senior or a person with disability.

These policy priorities reflect the challenges facing large PHAs, who manage an undercapitalized and overregulated public housing portfolio facing not only an $80 billion capital needs backlog, but also housing supply shortages, escalating rents and increasing demand for housing assistance. Despite these burdens, PHAs provide crucial housing assistance in their communities through owning, managing and improving public housing, making the private rental market affordable through housing vouchers, and developing new affordable housing through public and private partnerships. PHAs are lifelines for the households and communities they serve.

As much-needed COVID funding and waivers expire, PHAs continue to face serious operational challenges due to tight rental markets, high inflation, rising construction and maintenance costs, labor market shortages, and insufficient funding. Compounding these challenges is a divided Congress considering significant reductions in appropriations for FY2024. Evidence emerging from the pandemic experience demonstrates that robust social safety net programs are critical to protecting our most vulnerable individuals — children, seniors and people with disabilities — making deep cuts to these programs indefensible.

To ensure CLPHA’s members have the tools and resources to fulfill their missions, CLPHA’s 2023 priorities are:

Develop and fund a Public Housing Ten-Year Sustainability Plan to recapitalize the aging public housing portfolio
Improve and expand the Housing Choice Voucher program to better serve local markets and special-needs households
Increase affordable housing supply using new incremental vouchers coupled with LIHTC expansion
Expand and incentivize cross-sector collaborations that improve the life outcomes of assisted households and address racial disparities and inequities

View CLPHA's 2023 Policy Priorities

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