HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan spoke on June 12 at the 5th National Conference on Assisted Housing Mobility organized by the Poverty & Race Research Action Council and the Urban Institute.

Secretary Donovan noted that mobility in federal housing programs took an important step forward with the creation of the Housing Choice Voucher program. He described HUD’s recent efforts to improve mobility, from proposed changes to voucher portability regulations (see Memo, 6/1) to creating a Small Area Fair Market Rent demonstration (see related article in this issue of Memo).
 
The Secretary reminded the audience that providing voucher holders with real choices depends on an adequate supply of rental housing that low income people can afford. Yet, in the decade before President Obama took office, the nation lost 1.5 million affordable homes. Public housing alone lost 150,000 units over 15 years. All the while, 7 million households paid more than half of their income for housing.

Therefore, he asserted, “We can’t have a bright line between people-based housing policies and place-based housing policies. We need both. They are complementary…. The flipside of ensuring more access for voucher holders in neighborhoods of opportunity is making sure we don’t lose existing affordable housing in those very same neighborhoods.”

Secretary Donovan acknowledged the tension that has existed between people-based policies versus place-based policies, and stated that both are important. The Secretary challenged policy makers and advocates to discuss what is possible for low income families when the best features of both are combined. “If we don’t have affordable housing stock where a family can use a voucher we won’t succeed with mobility.

“In my mind, what we are trying to achieve in our neighborhood revitalization work is at root the very same goals we have for people-based programs that focus on mobility. That is to make sure that every neighborhood, no matter where it starts, is moving on the path to greater opportunity,”

Secretary Donovan cited the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative as a signature program toward creating neighborhoods of opportunity, and he described the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) as most emblematic of HUD’s approach to combining the best features of people- and place-based programs. Secretary Donovan characterized RAD as “an opportunity to move away from old project-base versus tenant-based tensions once and for all.”

In a recently released report, NLIHC explored the debate between preserving housing in low income neighborhoods and favoring mobility. The Coalition’s report found, similar to Secretary Donovan’s statements, that public policy should facilitate the ability of each household to maximize its own housing choices, whether through facilitating mobility or through improving housing and neighborhood conditions in low income communities (see Memo, 5/25).

Click here to view the prepared text of Secretary Donovan’s remarks. However, much of what he said was not in the formal text of the speech. Click here to view the complete speech in the Urban Institute video.

Click here to read the NLIHC report on the preservation vs. mobility debate.