Families in Transition: A Qualitative Analysis of the MTO Experience

Authors: Urban Institute     Cunningham, Mary K.     Bradley, Jeanette     Graham, Aaron     Comey, Jennifer     Popkin, Susan J.     Harris, Laura E.    

The Moving to Opportunity for Fair Housing Demonstration Program (MTO) provides a unique opportunity to test the premise that changing an individual’s neighborhood environment can change his or her life chances. The MTO demonstration provided housing subsidies (vouchers) to public housing families, to assist them in moving out of extremely poor neighborhoods. One group of program participants received additional help so they could move to areas with much less poverty. This report is part of the MTO interim evaluation. It is based on in-depth interviews conducted in early 2001 with adults and children in each of the five cities where MTO operated. These interviews were designed to expand on the main evaluation design, exploring in more depth the participants’ experiences with MTO and the nature of the mediating factors that can influence outcomes for participants. In each city, approximately 12 pairs of interviews with adults and children were conducted. Some families were living in private housing in low-poverty neighborhoods, others in private housing in moderate-poverty neighborhoods, and some in their original public housing developments.

Publication Categories: Publications     Affordable Housing     Public and Assisted Housing     Public Housing     Housing Choice Vouchers/Section 8 & Project-Based Section 8