HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge on Thursday announced awards to nine lead public housing authorities (PHAs) that will participate in HUD’s new Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Mobility Demonstration, which will receive $45.7 million in total funding. Through this Demonstration, PHAs will provide over 10,000 families with children better access to low-poverty neighborhoods with high-performing schools and other strong community resources. Participating regions represent diverse housing markets, population sizes, local laws regarding source-of-income nondiscrimination, and experiences implementing housing mobility programs.
“Studies show that place matters, and access to educational opportunities and other resources create lasting impacts on life outcomes for children,” said Dominique Blom, General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing. “The Mobility Demonstration provides families the choice to live where they want to live to raise their children.” “We are thrilled to announce this new program, which will remove barriers to opportunity-rich communities for families across the country.”
The Demonstration builds upon recent research that shows growing up in neighborhoods with lower levels of poverty improves children’s academic achievement and long-term chances of success and reduces intergenerational poverty. Children who move to low-poverty neighborhoods have also been shown to experience lower rates of hospitalizations, lower hospital spending, and some changes in mental health over the long-term follow-up. Adults given the chance to move to low-poverty neighborhoods experience reductions in obesity and diabetes.
While the HCV program currently offers families with vouchers the opportunity to live in a neighborhood of their choice (including low-poverty, opportunity neighborhoods), families with HCVs may continue to encounter barriers to using their vouchers in communities with expanded opportunities. Common barriers include inability to save enough money for a security deposit, inadequate time to find a unit, landlord unwillingness to rent to voucher holders, or limited awareness of neighborhood amenities, such as the location of high-performing schools.
The Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration will support selected PHAs in addressing barriers to accessing housing choices by offering mobility-related services to increase the number of voucher families with children living in opportunity areas. In addition to offering mobility-related services, participating PHAs will work together in their regions to adopt administrative policies that further enable housing mobility, increase landlord participation, and reduce barriers for families to move across PHA jurisdictions through portability.
The Demonstration will face a rigorous, independent evaluation to determine what services are most effective at helping families move to opportunity areas. HUD also intends to make materials developed for the demonstration available to all PHAs for us in their own communities.
The following PHAs will receive funding for the HCV Mobility Demonstration:
| PHA Code | PHA Name | Total Mobility-related Services Award | Total Vouchers Awarded | Total Voucher Funding Awarded |
| NY041 | Rochester Housing Authority | $4,089,540 | 74 | $724,106 |
| NY110 | New York Housing Preservation and Development | $4,013,100 | 74 | $1,501,480 |
| MN002 | Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (Lead PHA) | $4,013,100 | 37 | $637,341 |
| MN163 | Metropolitan HRA | Partner to MN002 | 37 | $585,649 |
| CA004 | Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles | $4,013,100 | 37 | $812,372 |
| CA002 | Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles | Partner to CA004 | 37 | $761,339 |
| PA006 | Allegheny County Housing Authority | $4,089,540 | 56 | $565,805 |
| PA001 | Housing Authority of Pittsburgh | Partner to PA006 | 18 | $249,419 |
| OH003 | Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority | $4,089,540 | 74 | $881,419 |
| LA001 | Housing Authority of New Orleans | $4,089,540 | 74 | $1,114,333 |
| PA046 | Housing Authority of Chester County | $3,461,850 | 18 | $249,803 |
| PA007 | Chester Housing Authority | Partner to PA046 | 56 | $803,120 |
| TN005 | Metropolitan Housing and Redevelopment | $4,013,100 | 74 | $971,554 |
| Total | $35,872,410 | 666 | $9,857,740 |
Just for further information:
https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/hcv/mobilitydemo
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/07/15/2020-15037/section-8-housing-choice-vouchers-implementation-of-the-housing-choice-voucher-mobility