News from HUD User

PD&R UPDATES

9 July, 2024

NEW REPORTS

Housing Search Assistance for Non-Elderly People with Disabilities: Final Comprehensive Report

HUD contracted a study to identify barriers that people with disabilities face accessing and using housing assistance — including navigating program eligibility requirements, searching for housing, and coordinating services and supports up to the point of moving into an assisted unit — and successful strategies to address those challenges. The study included a literature review, interviews with a small number of key stakeholders, and nine case studies of programs that serve people with disabilities and connect them to housing assistance programs.

Evaluation of the HUD Older Adult Home Modification Grant Program: Cohort 1 Interim Report

This report provides an interim 6-month evaluation of the first cohort of grantees under HUD’s Older Adults Home Modification Grant Program (OAHMP), which helps communities implement programs that provide home modifications and limited repairs as needed by low-income older adult homeowners aging in place. HUD awarded grants to the first cohort, which includes 32 nonprofit organizations, state and local governments, and public housing agencies and 15 subgrantees. The program provides up to $5,000 per household for home modifications and requires the involvement of an Occupational Therapist, Occupational Therapist Assistant, or Certified Aging in Place Specialist to ensure the home modification process addresses the client’s specific goals and promotes their full participation in daily life activities. The purpose of the evaluation is to (1) assess the impact of the program on client outcomes related to independent living using a pre/post design model; (2) assess the process grantees use to implement the OAHMP; and (3) collect feedback directly from OAHMP clients about the program processes.

Retrofits & Adaptations: Improving Mobility in the Home: Adaptations for Townhomes and Row Houses

Researchers sought to review and test home modifications that could improve accessibility for people with disabilities of semi-detached and non-detached residential buildings (townhomes and row houses), which often have elevated entrances, narrow floorplans, and functionality (kitchen, bathrooms, and bedrooms) spread among several levels. Focus groups of users, caregivers, and professionals identified several areas of the home, such as bathrooms, stairs, laundry room, and entryway or entrances, as presenting some of the greatest challenges for accomplishing daily activities and ease of use. The focus groups also confirmed results of a literature review that highlighted the importance of the appearance of assistive devices in the home, the need for standard methods of evaluating assistive devices, and the central importance of affordability for making modifications feasible. An interdisciplinary advisory group selected 10 promising accessibility products for initial assessment in the townhouse and row house environment. The results reveal the need for further innovation to focus on low-cost and affordable assistive devices that are installed permanently in the home.

Families in Transition Report

This report documents the results of the evaluation of the Families in Transition program, a pilot program that created 100 units of permanent supportive housing for families of Chicago Public Schools who were experiencing homelessness or doubling up with others. Conducted by the Inclusive Economy Lab at the University of Chicago, the study found that the program yielded increases in housing stability and suggests the program’s potential to reduce school moves. Data from focus groups with participants revealed both the program’s value to families as well as some unanticipated consequences of the program’s structure, including intrusive monitoring of some participating families by their landlords.

Research Design, Data Collection, and Analysis Plan: Version 1.1: The Family Options 12-Year Study

This Research Design, Data Collection, and Analysis Plan (RD/DCAP) outlines the approach that the research team from Abt Associates will take in carrying out the Family Options 12-Year Study. HUD launched the Family Options Study in 2010 as a multi-site experiment designed to develop evidence about which types of housing and services interventions work best for families who experience homelessness. Reports documenting the impact analyses in the short-term (2015) and the longer term (2016) found that priority access to a long-term rent subsidy such as a Housing Choice Voucher produced substantial benefits for families who had experienced homelessness. Based on these findings, HUD is attempting to administer a 12-year followup survey to the original sample of families that enrolled in the study over a decade ago. The RD/DCAP outlines the key research questions, the confirmatory and exploratory outcomes to be measured, the data sources to be collected or accessed, and the analytic approach to be undertaken. The original RD/DCAP was published in September 2022, and this updated Research Design has modest revisions.

DATASET RELEASES

• State Of The Cities Data Systems: Building Permits May 2024
  Read more at: https://socds.huduser.gov/permits/index.html

ANNOUNCEMENTS