MTW allows greater flexibility to improve housing choice and self-sufficiency
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is inviting a second round of public housing agencies to join the Department’s expanding Moving to Work (MTW) demonstration program. Today’s invitation follows a similar notice last October seeking the first cohort under the MTW expansion. MTW allows public housing agencies (PHAs) to practice greater program flexibility and encourages housing choice and self-sufficiency among low-income families. Read HUD’s notice to PHAs.
“A growing number of public housing authorities want to develop their own homegrown approaches toward supporting the self-sufficiency of their residents,” said HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “The expanding Moving to Work demonstration program will allow a greater number of local agencies to create local solutions to their unique needs.”
Currently, there are 39 MTW PHAs throughout the nation. In 2015, Congress allowed HUD to expand the MTW demonstration program to 100 additional PHAs over a seven-year period. Like a similar invitation for the first cohort of PHAs in October 2018, HUD will choose a second cohort of MTW agencies through a two-step selection process.
HUD’s MTW demonstration program encourages PHAs to develop unique self-sufficiency strategies, tailored to the needs of their local communities. These locally designed strategies will improve upon the one-size-fits-all approach. In contrast to traditional PHAs, MTW agencies have flexibility to design and implement the Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs) and public housing programs to better benefit the communities they serve. MTW PHAs can also streamline administrative procedures and enjoy greater financial flexibilities to run a more efficient and cost-effective operation.
One hundred MTW PHAs will be added in four cohorts. Each cohort will experiment with a certain affordable housing policy, and HUD will study that policy change to learn what successful MTW innovations should be applied to all PHAs across the nation.
HUD extended the deadline for PHAs to submit letters of interest for cohort one to May 13, 2019. This initial cohort will consist of high-performing PHAs that administer 1,000 or fewer HCVs and public housing units combined, as well as experiment with the MTW flexibilities. The second cohort will consist of PHAs with 1,001 or more public housing and HCV units. Further, in order to ensure adequate sample size, the PHA must have 1,000 or more existing non-elderly, non-disabled public housing and/or HCV households. The second cohort will study different rent reform models that may or may not be income based, to include tiered rents, and/or stepped-up rents. Read HUD’s notice extending the deadline for cohort one.
Interested agencies should consider the types of policies they would like to implement as part of the demonstration program. Examples of policies that have been implemented by agencies can be found in the MTW Plans and Reports on HUD’s website.