HUD Releases Three Reports Evaluating the Moving to Work Demonstration Program

May 11, 2021  

HUD Releases Three Reports Evaluating the Moving to Work Demonstration Program

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research has released three reports that examine aspects of the Moving to Work (MTW) demonstration program. Launched in 1996, MTW allows participating public housing agencies (PHAs) flexibility in designing and testing novel approaches to housing assistance with the aim of increasing cost effectiveness, incentivizing work among families with children, and increasing housing choice for low-income families.

Looking at the use of project-based vouchers (PBVs), researchers found that MTW PHAs are more likely than non-MTW agencies to use PBVs. In addition, MTW PHAs that have units in need of renovations are more likely to use Rental Assistance Demonstration funding to convert public housing to PBVs. Other findings show the ways in which PBV usage is similar among traditional and MTW PHAs. A report on self-sufficiency and housing choice outcomes used a Comparative Interrupted Time Series approach to examine the diverse interventions adopted by participating PHAs and determine if these efforts yielded similar outcomes. This analysis found increases in the share of new households served by MTW agencies, and compared to traditional agencies, found moderate evidence that households at MTW PHAs did a little better in terms of income gains (albeit from a lower starting point) and had slightly greater chances of needing minimal rental subsidies. The third report determined that MTW PHAs and traditional PHAs serve households of similar demographics and poverty levels, but MTW PHAs serve a higher percentage of African-American households. These retrospective reports will aid other agencies as HUD expands the Moving to Work demonstration to an additional 100 new PHAs.

Learn more about HUD's MTW Retrospective Evaluation and find related reports and data here.

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