Strategic Goal 3: Utilize Housing as a Platform for Improving Quality of Life
Evaluation of Rapid Re-housing for Families Demonstration
Projected Completion Date: July 2013
GTR: Anne Fletcher
Description: HUD’s FY 2008 appropriation included a $25 million demonstration of the rapid re-housing for families program, including $1.25 million for an evaluation. Rapid re-housing is based on the notion that there is a band of families with minimal barriers to housing that could be stabilized with a limited amount of housing assistance and services. Grantees were invited to develop their own assessment tool that would be used to identify eligible families, as well as match them to the appropriate intervention, and to offer short term assistance (3-6 months), long term assistance (12-15 months), or both. Twenty-three grants were awarded, and all grantees will participate in both a process and an outcomes evaluation.
Housing Models for Youth Aging Out of Foster Care
Projected Completion Date: August 2013
GTR: Anne Fletcher
Description: Senate report language accompanying HUD’s 2009 Appropriation directed the Secretary to “conduct an evaluation of the housing models that are most effective in preventing and ending homelessness for youth aged 16-24.” HUD is choosing to focus this project on the housing needs of the nearly 30,000 youth who “age out” of the foster care system each year. The study will catalog the range of housing programs that serve youth aging out of foster care, including their funding mechanisms; identify “model” programs with documented outcomes; conduct an in-depth review of communities who are using Family Unification Program (FUP) vouchers to serve this population; and identify opportunities to mitigate the risk of homelessness for youth as they transition out of the foster care system. Staff from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services have assisted in the development of the Statement of Work, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation (ASPE) will be partnering in the support and management of this study.
Impact of Housing and Services Interventions on Homeless Families
Projected Completion Date: December 2013
GTR: Anne Fletcher
Description: PD&R is beginning a congressionally mandated study of the effectiveness of different approaches to addressing family homelessness. The study will enroll 3,000 families in twelve sites across the country and randomly assign each family to one of four interventions: project-based transitional housing, community-based rapid re-housing, subsidy only, and usual care. Families will be interviewed at baseline (entry/random assignment), tracked for 18 months after intervention, and administered a follow-up survey at 18 months. The overall goal of the study is to determine which interventions work best to promote housing stability, family preservation, child well-being, adult well-being, and self-sufficiency for homeless families.
Evaluation of the Demonstration Grant (202) Program
Projected Completion Date: April 2012
GTR: Ashaki Robinson Johns
Description: This study evaluates the impact of the Section 202 Demonstration Planning Grant Program (DPG). DPG was implemented to assist sponsors of projects that received Section 202 with predevelopment funding to meet an 18-month loan closing timeframe.
Older Americans: Key Indicators of Well-Being (with HHS)
Projected Completion Date: June 2012
Contact: Meena Bavan
Description: HUD is funding the production of the Older Americans: Key Indicators of Well-Being Report and related publications. These reports will provide a summary of national indicators of older adults’ well-being in an easy to use, non-technical format and document activities related to the expansion of research that supports the development of indicators, the evaluations of indicators, and efforts to close data gaps. In addition, such reports serve to improve both the quality and use of Federal data on aging by identifying information gaps, data inconsistencies, and data integration issues.
Effects of Assisted Housing on Multiple Indicators of Well-Being
Projected Completion Date: September 2012
GTR: Barbara Haley
Description: This project investigates the effects of assisted housing on multiple indicators of well-being of adults, youth, and children by combining longitudinal survey information from Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) with administrative records from the TRACS, PIC and MTCS databases. The analytical goals of the project are to investigate: (1) the effects of public housing on the economic self-sufficiency outcomes (e.g., work hours, earnings) of young adults who spent some portion of their childhood in project-based assisted housing; (2) the contemporaneous effects of housing assistance on the economic self-sufficiency outcomes of adults; (3) the effects of housing assistance on the well-being outcomes of infants and toddlers; (4) the effects of housing assistance on adolescent well-being (e.g., teen births); and (5) the effects of welfare reform on housing assistance recipients.
Rural Housing Research
Completion Date: Ongoing
GTR: Ndeye Jackson
Description: Between fiscal years 1994 and 2007, PD&R administered a cooperative agreement with the Housing Assistance Council (HAC), a national nonprofit corporation, to provide technical assistance to state and local governments and rural housing organizations and undertake research on rural housing issues and evaluations of federal housing programs, including those of the Office of Rural Development of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. For 2006, HAC’s Research and Information program consisted of five research projects and one data project. In FY 2007, HAC was not funded by Congress; in FY 2008 HAC received a Neighborhood Initiatives Grant that CPD administered. In FY 2009, HAC received funding for capacity building, technical assistance, loan fund and research activities, which was administered by PDR. As part of the 2009 research program HAC undertook 6 research studies and one data project. HAC has received funding for FY 2010 for the same activities as for FY 2009. The research program will include 6-8 research projects.
