Federal Programs and Policies

This is the first in a series of forums on issues raised by Obama Administration's proposed Preservation, Enhancement and Transformation of Rental Assistance Act (PETRA). PETRA would institute new rules governing key rights of tenants in developments converted under the plan, including rights to organize and participate in development management, and the right to choose housing in a different location. Panelists will discuss the role of organizing and other resident rights in the management and preservation of public housing, and how PETRA would strengthen, weaken, or simply change the rights of residents.

This commentary describes the genesis of the What Works Collaborative, a foundation sponsored research partnership that conducts timely research and analysis to help inform the implementation of an evidence-based housing and urban policy agenda.

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.

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.