Housing Markets and Choice

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 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.

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.

As a result of the credit market meltdown, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, the nation's primary mechanism for producing and preserving affordable rental housing, was severely disrupted in 2008 and 2009. In response, the government created two programs as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—the Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP) and the Tax Credit Exchange Program (Exchange). This paper examines the experience to date with these two stopgap measures. Its purpose is to assess whether they are effective and sufficient or if additional actions may be necessary to mitigate the vulnerabilities in the LIHTC program.