PHAs are developing innovative strategies to enable more voucher residents to live in high opportunity neighborhoods with access to resources critical to their long-term success. There is considerable research suggesting that HCV program participants, especially those with young children, achieve better outcomes when they are able to use their voucher in a safe neighborhood with access to quality schools. CLPHA members discussed strategies they are using to help facilitate mobility at the 7th National Housing Mobility Conference in October 2018, co-sponsored by CLPHA and the Poverty and Race and Research Action Council (PRRAC). A summary of the meeting can be found here.
The Seattle and King County Public Housing Authorities are currently participating in the Creating Moves to Opportunity (CMTO) demonstration, a study testing the effects of various strategies to help families with young children use their voucher in a high-opportunity neighborhood. More information about CMTO can be found here. The Minneapolis Public Housing Authority is also engaged in a project testing mobility strategies with the same research team that is currently in development.
Many CLPHA member PHAs participate in special purpose voucher programs, such as the Family Unification Program (FUP), the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (HUD-VASH), and the Non-Elderly Disabled (NED) program. These programs serve especially vulnerable low-income households who are in need of supportive services to ensure long-term housing stability. CLPHA members have created a variety of innovations to more effectively serve program participants.
