HUD announced in April 2021 that nine lead public housing authorities (PHAs) will participate in HUD’s new Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Mobility Demonstration. Through this Demonstration, these sites will provide over 10,000 families with children better access to low-poverty neighborhoods with high-performing schools and other strong community resources. Participating regions represent diverse housing markets, population sizes, local laws regarding source-of-income nondiscrimination, and experiences implementing housing mobility programs.

The Demonstration builds upon recent research that shows growing up in neighborhoods with lower levels of poverty improves children's academic achievement and long-term chances of success and reduces intergenerational poverty. Children who move to low-poverty neighborhoods have also been shown to experience lower rates of hospitalizations, lower hospital spending, and some changes in mental health over the long-term follow-up. Adults given the chance to move to low-poverty neighborhoods experience reductions in obesity and diabetes.

The Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration will support selected PHAs in addressing barriers to accessing housing choices by offering mobility-related services to increase the number of voucher families with children living in opportunity areas. In addition to offering mobility-related services, participating PHAs will work together in their regions to adopt administrative policies that further enable housing mobility, increase landlord participation, and reduce barriers for families to move across PHA jurisdictions through portability.

The Demonstration will face a rigorous, independent evaluation to determine what services are most effective at helping families move to opportunity areas. HUD also intends to make materials developed for the demonstration available to all PHAs for us in their own communities

The following PHAs will receive funding for the HCV Mobility Demonstration:

Kick-Off Meeting

On May 24, 2021, HUD held a kick-off meeting for the HCV Mobility Demonstration.  The kick-off meeting can be viewed here.

The slides from the kick-off meeting are here.

Competitive Funding Process Summary

The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Mobility Demonstration was authorized and funded through the 2019 and 2020 Appropriations Acts. A total of $50 million is available to PHAs that participate in the demonstration: up to $10 million is for new vouchers for families with children and the remainder is available for mobility-related services. The 2019 Appropriations Act also makes available $3 million for a research evaluation.

On July 15, 2020, HUD released FR-6191-N-01, Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers: Implementation of the Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration which described how PHAs could apply to participate in the demonstration. 

To assist PHAs with completing their applications, HUD made the following information available:

• Sample Form HUD-52515
  • Sample Attachment 1
  • Sample Attachment 2
  • Sample Attachment 3
• Data Tool Instructions for Category A and D Applicants (Google Chrome Preferred Web Browser)
  • Voucher Concentration Spreadsheet for Category A and D Applicants
  • Adequate Number of Moderately Priced Rental Units GIS Tool for Category A and D Applicants
• Data Tool Instructions for All Applicants (Google Chrome Preferred Web Browser)
  • Rating Factor 3: Regional Need Score Spreadsheet for All Applicants
  • Opportunity Area Mapping Tool for All Applicants
• Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 (Pub. L. 116–6)
• Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (Pub. L. 116-94)
• PDF: Questions and Answers, Updated January 14

Seeking Housing Assistance

Please reach out to your local HUD office and public housing agency (PHA) to learn more about the housing resources and opportunities within your community. For further information on how to locate the nearest HUD office and PHA, please click on the following link: https://resources.hud.gov/.