Latest Reports from the Metropolitan Housing & Communities Policy Center

This report was designed to shine a spotlight on the immediate physical and social environment of residents who were living in two distressed public housing developments in 2007. While past research has similarly described the high incidence of depression and the high levels of disorder and violence within older, urban public housing developments, this report was intended to bring those factors together to uncover the pathways that influence mental health. We find evidence that suggests that physical and social disorder create cues that take a toll on residents through negative feelings about neighborhood cohesion and the neighborhood's ability to come together in a time of need. In addition, we find that economic stressors, which include threats of eviction, not being able to pay bills, or buy food for oneself, is associated with depression.

Rolf Pendall, an expert on land use controls and the former director of graduate studies in city and regional planning at Cornell University, joined the Urban Institute today as the director of the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center.

The Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area Foreclosure Monitor is a quarterly publication co-published by NeighborhoodInfo DC and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. The Monitor gives a snapshot of the impact of foreclosures on the region, as well as broader sales market trends. Almost 149,000 households were at least 30 days late on their mortgage payments, with almost one-quarter of those already in foreclosure. While foreclosures remain a serious problem, the sales market showed signs of improvement by December 2009. The sales volume was up from the year before, and the median sales price rose 6.6% in one year to $315,000.

This policy memo examines reasons why a small share of assisted housing residents may opt to change from project-based vouchers to portable, tenant-based vouchers. We found that in addition to structural reasons related to the local housing market and local programmatic polices, households move for several reasons, including finding a better unit; moving closer to family, services, or schools; or, for some programs that required services or additional tenancy rules, transitioning toward more independent housing. In addition, housing authority staff also reported that some households moved because of poor quality housing and unsafe neighborhoods.

This brief describes the McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program (ECHY), summarizes the research, and outlines future research questions of concern to policymakers.

Many of the nation's older, industrial cities have experienced a sharp drop in jobs and population over the last several decades, and the recession has only aggravated this problem. The federal government's role in addressing urban decline has historically been uncoordinated and inconsistent, even as these cities are home to invaluable institutional and physical assets. If the government chooses to promote remediation and growth, a new unified approach will be required. This paper examines the causes and effects of widespread urban decline and proposes strategies for a renewed federal response that targets assets and facilitates new uses for vacant space.

The mortgage interest deduction (MID) is the largest single federal subsidy for owner-occupied housing, but the benefits are not evenly distributed among taxpayers. Only individuals who itemize deductions can benefit from the MID, and the value of the deduction increases with the marginal tax rate. If the government wishes to promote homeownership, a refundable tax credit available to all taxpayers would be more effective. This report presents new distributional estimates both of the current deduction's benefits by income group, family type, and race/ethnicity and of proposals to eliminate, scale back, or replace the MID with more broad-based tax incentives.

The objective of this study, commissioned by the Postal Regulatory Commission, was to identify the array of benefits provided by the United States Postal Service—through its mail service and post offices—that contribute to the social value of the post. We provide a framework that categorizes benefits, beneficiaries, and measures. We also identify possible metrics and methods for estimating the value of these benefits. Research in community and economic development supports the concept of post offices as community assets and of the value of social connectedness and civic engagement, two social benefits frequently associated with postal services. This study provides an organizing scheme for detailed analysis and quantification in the future.

The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative proposed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is intended to transform neighborhoods of extreme poverty and severely distressed housing into revitalized mixed-income communities. This paper considers how to effectively evaluate outcomes and measure success in comprehensive community transformation efforts like Choice Neighborhoods. It is divided into two parts: (1) a general framework for performance management in Choice Neighborhoods, including a logic model, and (2) a detailed, evidence-based approach to Choice Neighborhoods performance measurement, including proposed management reports and performance indicators.

In a 2009 speech, President Obama stated that he has "directed the Office of Management and Budget, the Domestic Policy Council, the National Economic Council and the Office of Urban Affairs to conduct the first comprehensive interagency review in 30 years of how the federal government approaches and funds urban and metropolitan areas so that we can start having a concentrated, focused, strategic approach to federal efforts to revitalize our metropolitan areas." This paper summarizes a rapid scan of available literature to describe what actually happened 30 years ago as the Carter administration conducted that earlier review and policy formulation process.