Jobs Plus Implementation: This HUD report focuses on the implementation experiences of eight Jobs Plus grantees, and how those PHAs and their partners have structured case management and employment services, providing some insight on best practices for PHAs. The report also covers implementation and recommendations for the earned income disregard as well as strategies for supporting work. A second study focusing on the impacts of Jobs Plus on earnings and employment will be released in the future.
Rapid Re-Housing: This HUD-commissioned report provides an overview of the current state of rapid re-housing programs, including their geographic distribution, funding source, rent structure, and case management models. The information was collected via an online survey completed by local Continuums of Care (CoCs). HUD will also release a companion report containing interviews with Rapid Re-housing participants.
Spatial Mismatch and Housing Assistance: The Urban Institute examined spatial patterns of hourly job ads and the location of public housing and voucher assisted households, finding that families receiving both types of rental assistance experienced worse spatial mismatch compared to unassisted households. Using a 6-mile distance, public housing and voucher households were more likely to live closer to another job seekers than employers, with public housing households faring worst. The report includes spatial mismatch data by metro area, along with case studies from Atlanta, Chicago, Seattle, and Washington D.C.
Prevalence of Child Poverty: A report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities finds that while fewer children live in families with income and benefits totaling less than $14,000 per year, government assistance programs are doing less to reduce deep poverty in these families than they did several decades ago. For those who received it, rent assistance lifted 98% of children and their families out of deep poverty. The report includes in-depth information on child poverty trends over time.
Improving Renters’ Health: The Milwaukee-based research and poverty prevention advocacy group Community Advocates Public Policy Institute recently released Home Is Where Our Health Is: Policies to Improve the Health of Renters in Milwaukee and Beyond, which examines three factors that affect both housing and health. The authors looked at the availability of affordable rental housing, the quality of rental housing, and housing stability, and identified with 32 policy recommendations to improve these factors, including: raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour; preserving expiring subsidized housing units; expanding and improving the LIHTC program; increasing funding for HCVs, adopting SAFMRs for HCVs, prohibiting discrimination against renters using HCVs, and providing financial incentives for landlords accepting HCVs in resource-rich areas.
Post-Conversion Health Improvements: A new study out of HealthAffairs found that a RAD-like conversion of 800 units in New York City resulted in net health status improvements among residents in those units after broad-based building renovations (i.e. not modifications specifically intended to impact health outcomes). While the researchers did not find significant changes for individual health conditions studied or healthcare service utilization, they did see a change in net health status using a composite index of 5 health conditions (asthma, anxiety/depression, injury, hypertension, and acute respiratory infection). The findings show that even renovations not focused on health improvement ultimately yield positive impacts on resident health.