Moving to Work - Public and Indian Housing

Moving to Work (MTW)

San Diego Housing Commission Photo

Historic Renovation of Hotel Churchill

The San Diego Housing Commission plans a Housing First Model in a 72-unit rehabilitation of a local historical landmark.

Tacoma Housing Authority Photo

Tacoma Public Schools Special Housing Program

The Tacoma Housing Authority is seeking to improve outcomes for participating families and students, and for an entire school.

Moving to Work (MTW) is a demonstration program for public housing authorities (PHAs) that provides them the opportunity to design and test innovative, locally-designed strategies that use Federal dollars more efficiently, help residents find employment and become self-sufficient, and increase housing choices for low-income families. MTW gives PHAs exemptions from many existing public housing and voucher rules and more flexibility with how they use their Federal funds. MTW PHAs are expected to use the opportunities presented by MTW to inform HUD about ways to better address local community needs.

The Office of Public Housing Investments (OPHI), within the Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) at HUD headquarters, oversees the MTW Demonstration.

The Links to the right provide additional information about the MTW Demonstration and participating public housing authorities.

What's New with MTW?

Summary of Public Feedback on Policies to Study Under MTW Expansion

July 22, 2016

For each cohort of agencies brought on by the MTW Expansion, as authorized by the 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act, one specific policy change will be implemented. HUD published notices to solicit public comments in two issues of the Federal Register in order to gather public feedback about the policies to be studied. HUD requested comments on: 1) specific policy proposal recommendations to be implemented during the expansion; 2) research and evaluation proposal recommendations; and 3) comments on what policies should be considered as having already been proven successful.

HUD received 40 responses to the solicitation for comments over a period of 45 days. Click here for the summary of comments related to the policies to study that will inform the MTW Research Federal Advisory Committee meetings on July 26, 2016 and July 28, 2016.

HUD Appoints the 15 Members of the Federal Advisory Committee

June 21, 2016

As part of the Moving to Work expansion, the 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act requires HUD to establish a research advisory committee to advise the Secretary with respect to specific policy proposals and methods of research and evaluation. The research advisory committee is comprised of representatives from MTW PHAs (staff and current/former residents), HUD program and research experts, and independent subject matter experts in housing policy research.

HUD has appointed the 15 members of the committee, and the committee will begin convening this summer. Read more about the research advisory committee and its role in the Moving to Work Expansion.

Moving to Work Expansion

May 4, 2016

The 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act expands the Moving to Work demonstration by an additional 100 public housing authorities (PHAs) over seven years. The motivation behind the expansion is straightforward: to simplify the administration of PHA programs, learn from policy interventions, and apply lessons learned to PHAs nationwide.

The expansion focuses on the country’s smaller PHAs, and to be eligible to apply, PHAs must be designated as high performing agencies and meet other site selection requirements. The 100 PHAs will be brought on to the demonstration by cohort, and within each cohort, one specific policy will be implemented. HUD will learn from each cohort of MTW PHAs by testing these specific policies in the areas of cost-effectiveness, self-sufficiency, and housing choice, the three statutory purposes of the MTW demonstration.

For more information, please visit the MTW expansion webpage and frequently asked questions page.

Summary of Public Feedback on Policies to Study Under MTW Expansion

HUD Appoints the 15 Members of the Federal Advisory Committee

Moving to Work Expansion

General MTW Information

Participating Site Information

MTW Program Expansion

Technical Assistance

Archive