The evaluation of the first cohort of agencies participating in the MTW expansion focuses on how smaller PHAs use the flexibility offered by their new MTW designation to achieve the statutory objectives of the MTW program and what the consequences of that flexibility are for housing authority operations and tenants. By the end of April 2022, all 31 PHAs in the Flexibility Cohort had fully executed their Annual Contributions Contract (ACC) amendment that finalized their designation as an MTW agency, but only 11 PHAs had an approved MTW Supplement to their PHA Annual Plan and were thus eligible for beginning to implement MTW flexibilities. Nonetheless, all 31 PHAs continued to advance their planning efforts over the course of this first year of MTW designation, refining the set of MTW activities that they intend to pursue and considering how the MTW funding flexibility would factor into these activities. The onboarding process has been slower than anticipated, and while PHA’s enthusiasm for the MTW program has not waned, the reality of implementing big changes in small agencies has been a central challenge for these 31 PHAs in this first year.

Moving to Work (MTW) Cohort #1 Page