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 allows PHAs exemptions from many existing public housing and voucher rules and provides funding flexibility with how they use their Federal funds. PHAs in the MTW demonstration have pioneered a number of innovative policy interventions that have been proven to be successful at the local level, and subsequently rolled out to the rest of the country’s PHAs.

The Department’s vision for the MTW demonstration is to evaluate program innovations (i.e., MTW activities) being implemented at the PHA level, learn from those innovations, and then offer innovations proven to be successful to all 3,000+ PHAs across the country. To date, the MTW demonstration has had a strong influence in improving the delivery of low-income housing, specifically through the public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs. Large-scale regulatory reforms have relied in part on MTW PHAs having tested local policy changes that have been found to be beneficial to PHAs and the communities in which they serve, such as the Housing Opportunities through Modernization Act (HOTMA), FAST Act, Administrative Streamlining Rule, COVID-19 emergency waivers, and more.

Last updated March 31, 2021