New Updates on PD&R Edge

In Practice:
Mixed-Use Supportive Housing Serves as a New Cultural Landmark for Historic Filipinotown in Los Angeles
In Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown neighborhood, the nonprofit Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA) partnered with affordable housing developer Linc Housing to help meet the growing needs of the Filipino-American community in Los Angeles County. The partners created HiFi Collective, a 64-unit supportive housing project that opened in 2022. It serves people who have previously experienced homelessness, offering wraparound services to help them improve their quality of life and adjust to permanent housing. HiFi Collective has also become a gathering spot for the larger community.

PD&R at 50:
Neighborhood Mobility: The Path Toward Community Choice
Over the past 50 years, HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research has been critical in developing and evaluating programs designed to encourage mobility, overcome patterns of segregation, and promote fair housing choice. Several key initiatives over the past 50 years have helped inform policymakers on the best ways to help families use vouchers to access neighborhoods with enhanced amenities and opportunities, including the Housing Choice Voucher program (previously known as Section 8), the Gautreaux settlement, the Moving to Opportunity Demonstration, and the Community Choice Demonstration.

PD&R Leadership:
The Principles of Evidence-Based Policy
In the Leadership Message, Brian J. McCabe, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development at PD&R, discusses how federal agencies, including HUD, use data and research in policy development. In 2018, Congress passed the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (Evidence Act) to create a common framework for how federal agencies use data, collect evidence, and make policy decisions. HUD has since adopted five principles for evaluation outlined in the legislation: relevance, rigor, independence, transparency, and ethics. These principles guide HUD’s iterative efforts to improve public policy through continuous evaluation, monitoring, and research and reflect a broader belief that the evidence should shape policy choices.

International & Philanthropic Spotlight:
Cross-Atlantic Learning
In Spring 2023, a delegation of policymakers, practitioners, and academics from the United Kingdom completed a learning expedition to Boston, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. The purpose was to build and share research and practices focusing on sustainable community development and place-based renewal. During the weeklong visit, the team met with community foundations, investment firms, groups funding community revitalization efforts, and university partners and visited HUD-funded sites. These conversations revealed that the United Kingdom and the United States face similar challenges in “left behind” communities that could benefit from similar solutions.

Please send your comments and suggestions to editor@huduser.gov.