The Urban Institute released a report, Moving to Work and Neighborhood Opportunity, summarizing the mobility-related initiatives of 39 Moving to Work (MTW) public housing agencies (PHAs). MTW is a demonstration program started in 2008 that gives participating PHAs greater flexibility in their housing assistance policies and use of federal funds. One goal of MTW is to increase housing choices for low-income families, including access to high-opportunity neighborhoods. Twenty-four of the 39 MTW PHAs were planning or implementing policies to encourage geographic mobility in 2015.
The report provides an inventory of MTW PHAs’ initiatives related to increasing housing choices and geographic mobility. Of the 24 MTW PHAs with mobility-related initiatives: four had comprehensive mobility programs, which provide counseling or case management and other services to Housing Choice Voucher (voucher) recipients before, during, or after their search for housing; eight had incentives and supports for landlords to accept vouchers, including financial incentives such as property damage or vacancy insurance and modifications to inspection requirements; eleven had incentives and supports for tenants to make voucher moves to opportunity-rich areas, such as financial incentives or modifications to voucher payment standards in opportunity areas; and four that place Project Based Vouchers (PBVs) in high-opportunity neighborhoods. However, fourteen agencies had restrictive policies that limit mobility, such as requiring households to live in their current jurisdiction for a year before moving to another jurisdiction.
For more details, see Moving to Work and Neighborhood Opportunity at: http://urbn.is/2lMAvkW