Cityscape: Volume 19 Number 3 | HOPE and Choice for HUD-Assisted Households

HOPE and Choice for HUD-Assisted Households

Paul Joice
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the official positions or policies of the Office of Policy Development and Research, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or the U.S. government.

Policy Briefs

The Policy Briefs department summarizes a change or trend in national policy that may have escaped the attention of researchers. The purpose is to stimulate the analysis of policy in the field while the policy is being implemented and thereafter. If you have an idea for future Policy Briefs, please contact david.l.hardiman@hud.gov.

From 1993 to 2011, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) HOPE VI Program provided 260 grants totaling $6 billion for the demolition and redevelopment of severely distressed public housing. In 2010, HUD created the Choice Neighborhoods program as the successor to HOPE VI and has since awarded $633 million in implementation grants. Considerable debate has taken place among researchers, policymakers, and advocates about whether HOPE VI, Choice Neighborhoods, and similar redevelopment programs provide benefits for the residents who were living in properties before redevelopment. This article explores existing research on HOPE VI and presents early evidence on the experiences of residents in Choice Neighborhoods redevelopment sites, with particular emphasis on household incomes and attrition rates (that is, the rate at which households cease to receive housing assistance). Six years after the initial awarding of Choice Neighborhoods grants, household incomes have increased and attrition rates have been lower than one would expect based on the experiences of similar programs.