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Housing Is Working Group 2023-2024 Calendar

Join the Housing Is Working Group to discuss special topics related to cross-sector initiatives and programmatic considerations particularly focused on the intersections of housing, health, and education.

This year’s public webinars cover topics such as the mobility asthma project, trauma-informed approaches to housing, resident-focused racial equity work, out-of-school time, and how FCC grantees are supprting voucher holders.

View Calendar
 

Elements of a Successful Partnership

With generous support from the MacArthur Foundation, CLPHA developed an in-depth report on regional housing-education collaborations taking place at housing authorities across the Pacific-Northwest.

Read the Multimedia Report
 
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Research
Community:
Jan 31, 2019
Because mental health conditions can negatively affect employment, people with these conditions make up a large share of federal disability program participants. Federal agencies have tested supported employment (SE) interventions designed to help those with mental health conditions keep or obtain employment and reduce their dependence on public programs. This brief describes the characteristics of adults with mental health conditions who participate in the federal disability programs and reports evidence from three recent studies of longer-term impacts of SE on the employment of people with mental health conditions. The findings indicate that, although a large share of disability program participants with mental health conditions report that they want to work, many face barriers, including being discouraged by failed past work attempts.

Authored by: Mathematica Policy Research
Topics: Asset building, Disabilities, Mental health, Research, Workforce development
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 18, 2019
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Research
Community:
Jan 25, 2019
The employment social enterprise (ESE) model can provide an opportunity to create a financially viable business that helps individuals with employment barriers become integrated into the labor force. This research studied eight ESEs. Findings suggest that by applying private‐sector business principles to a workforce development programs, social enterprises can provide participants with meaningful and valuable work experience, while offsetting program costs. Analysis identified four promising practices that social entrepreneurs should adopt when setting up a new enterprise. Enterprises should (a) provide soft‐skill training and social services to participants; (b) operate at a size that allows for economies of scale in production and the provision of support services; (c) have few occupational skill requirements; and (d) hire supervisors with both industry knowledge and the capacity to support individuals with employment barriers.

Authored by: Mathematica Policy Research
Topics: Asset building, Low-income, Research, Workforce development
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 18, 2019

Doing Good While Doing Business Using Financial Viability to Enhance Employability for the Disadvantaged

Research
Jan 25, 2019
Mathematica Policy Research
The employment social enterprise (ESE) model can provide an opportunity to create a financially viable business that helps individuals with employment barriers become integrated into the labor force. This research studied eight ESEs.
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News Article
Community:
Mar 15, 2019
The venture is a small yet innovative player in a growing number of nonprofits developing new models for work force training. Their overarching goal is upward mobility for low-income Americans and the two-thirds of workers without four-year college degrees.

Authored by: Steve Lohr for The New York Times
Topics: Asset building, Broadband, Low-income, Workforce development
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 15, 2019

Income Before: $18,000. After: $85,000. Does Tiny Nonprofit Hold a Key to the Middle Class?

News Article
Mar 15, 2019
Steve Lohr for The New York Times
The venture is a small yet innovative player in a growing number of nonprofits developing new models for work force training. Their overarching goal is upward mobility for low-income Americans and the two-thirds of workers without four-year college degrees.
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News Article
Community:
Feb 5, 2019
We beef up law enforcement to attack crime, devote more funding to try and improve inadequate schools and tackle health disparities by getting more people to the doctor. But what if Baltimore could solve all of its persistent social problems by getting rid of poverty?

Authored by: Baltimore Sun Editorial Board for The Baltimore Sun
Topics: Asset building, Criminal justice, Funding, Health, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Mental health
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 11, 2019

What if we just focused on poverty to solve the city's issues?

News Article
Feb 5, 2019
Baltimore Sun Editorial Board for The Baltimore Sun
We beef up law enforcement to attack crime, devote more funding to try and improve inadequate schools and tackle health disparities by getting more people to the doctor. But what if Baltimore could solve all of its persistent social problems by getting rid of poverty?
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Publication
Community:
Jan 25, 2019
As a result of decades of legalized discrimination in the housing industry, huge racial disparities in homeownership still exist today. This is not acceptable in a country founded on equal opportunity. Nationally, 72 percent of white households own a home, compared to only 42 percent of black households and 46 percent of Hispanic households. Homes typically make up the largest portion of a family’s overall wealth, so these disparities in homeownership are the most significant factor in the racial wealth gap.

Authored by: Kevin Campbell for Habitat for Humanity of Wake County
Topics: Asset building, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Racial inequalities
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 11, 2019
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News Article
Community:
Jan 22, 2019
In 2016, the health system teamed with Spartanburg Community College and the National Center for Construction Education and Research, a nonprofit that provides global training and certification. Together, the three entities began offering construction skills training to area residents.

Authored by: Alan Jenkins and Melinda Young for Discover Health
Topics: Asset building, Health, Low-income, Partnerships, Workforce development
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 11, 2019

Building a Community

News Article
Jan 22, 2019
Alan Jenkins and Melinda Young for Discover Health
In 2016, the health system teamed with Spartanburg Community College and the National Center for Construction Education and Research, a nonprofit that provides global training and certification. Together, the three entities began offering construction skills training to area residents.
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News Article
Community:
Feb 28, 2019
Over the past decade, the real estate fortunes for African Americans have reversed course. Despite a strengthening economy, including record low unemployment and higher wages for black workers, homeownership levels for that group have dropped incrementally almost every year since 2004. It fell to 43 percent in 2017, virtually erasing all of the gains made since the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, landmark legislation outlawing housing discrimination.

Authored by: Troy McMullen for The Washington Post
Topics: Asset building, Community development, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Racial inequalities
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 11, 2019

The 'heartbreaking' decrease in black homeownership

News Article
Feb 28, 2019
Troy McMullen for The Washington Post
Over the past decade, the real estate fortunes for African Americans have reversed course. Despite a strengthening economy, including record low unemployment and higher wages for black workers, homeownership levels for that group have dropped incrementally almost every year since 2004.
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Podcast
Community:
One out of every 10 young people between the ages of 16 and 24 is neither working nor in school. These “disconnected” young people face an uphill battle finding work and are at risk of economic hardship well into adulthood. Although there are many programs that aim to reconnect young people to education and employment, findings from evaluations of these programs have been mixed. The evidence base has grown substantially in the past several months, though, as studies of three pro­grams — YouthBuild, Year Up, and New York City’s Young Adult Internship Program (YAIP) — have released new findings. MDRC’s Dan Bloom and Cynthia Miller recently wrote a brief that discusses findings from the new studies and their implications for youth programs.

Authored by: MDRC
Topics: Asset building, Low-income, Mobility, Research, Workforce development, Youth
Shared by Housing Is on Mar 8, 2019
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Interactive
Community:
Restoring the value of the minimum wage — and helping families cover basic needs — is essential to addressing hunger. The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour has not increased since 2009. A more adequate minimum wage would foster the nation’s economic strength and growth to be shared in more equitable ways. Low-income workers and their families would benefit the most from a higher minimum wage, leading to reduced poverty, hunger, and income inequality.

Authored by: Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), the Economic Policy Institute, and the National Employment Law Project
Topics: Asset building, Legislation & Policy, Low-income
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Mar 1, 2019
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Research
Community:
Feb 21, 2019
In many cities, low-income residents live far from available jobs, and employers can’t find people to fill open positions. Economists call this “spatial mismatch”—a mismatch between where jobs are located and where job seekers live, which can cause high unemployment rates and lead to longer spells of joblessness.

Authored by: Urban Institute
Topics: Asset building, Racial inequalities, Research, Transportation, Workforce development
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Feb 28, 2019
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Research
Community:
Feb 20, 2019
As the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) prioritizes programs to help households receiving rental assistance achieve economic self-sufficiency, researchers, policymakers, and advocates debate the utility of work requirements as an effective pathway toward economic self-sufficiency and the risks of offering rental assistance on a conditional basis. This study contributes additional evidence suggesting that work requirements, when implemented gradually and in context with hardship exemptions and local supports, can boost annual household income, earnings, and the adult-employment ratio* for low-income households with no work history. But work requirements have little effect on those with prior earnings.

Authored by: Han Bum Lee and Paul E. McNamara for Housing Policy Debate (How Housing Matters, Urban Institute)
Topics: Asset building, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Research, Workforce development
Shared by Housing Is on Feb 21, 2019

Exploring the Effects of Work Requirements at a Small Illinois Housing Authority

Research
Feb 20, 2019
Han Bum Lee and Paul E. McNamara for Housing Policy Debate (How Housing Matters, Urban Institute)
As the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) prioritizes programs to help households receiving rental assistance achieve economic self-sufficiency, researchers, policymakers, and advocates debate the utility of work requirements as an effective pathway toward economic self-sufficiency
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News Article
Community:
Feb 7, 2019
When we stereotype or lazily assume low-wage workers to be “low skill,” it reinforces an often unspoken and pernicious view that they lack intelligence and ambition, maybe even the potential to master “higher-order” skilled work. In an economy that is supposed to operate as a meritocracy—but rarely does—too often, we see low wages and assume both the work and workers are low-value. This bias makes us overlook people for better-paying positions in which they might have excelled, hindering their social mobility.

Authored by: Byron Auguste for Forbes
Topics: Asset building, Low-income, Racial inequalities, Workforce development
Shared by Housing Is on Feb 19, 2019
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Report
Community:
Jan 16, 2019
This report identifies services that help low-income individuals and households achieve upward economic mobility and explores how affordable housing providers offer them. We begin by presenting key economic mobility concepts and definitions. We then discuss the research evidence on interventions across sectors and disciplines that help individuals and households to achieve upward economic mobility. In the third section of this report, we present our findings from interviews with leading organizations and initiatives in the field. Finally, we discuss challenges for affordable housing providers seeking to help their residents achieve economic mobility and opportunities for future research.

Authored by: Eric Burnstein, Megan Gallagher, and Wilton Oliver for the Urban Institute
Topics: Asset building, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Research, Workforce development
Shared by Housing Is on Feb 14, 2019

Economic Mobility Services for Affordable Housing Residents: Exploring Resident Services as a Vehicle for Economic Success

Report
Jan 16, 2019
Eric Burnstein, Megan Gallagher, and Wilton Oliver for the Urban Institute
This report identifies services that help low-income individuals and households achieve upward economic mobility and explores how affordable housing providers offer them. We begin by presenting key economic mobility concepts and definitions.
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News Article
Community:
Jan 25, 2019
A whole host of factors — such as friends, housing and transportation — affect a person’s health and how much they need the social safety net. It’s time the government’s big health insurance programs took this reality into account, some lawmakers and policymakers are starting to argue.

Authored by: Paige Winfield Cunningham for The Washington Post
Topics: Asset building, Cost effectiveness, Disabilities, Education, Food insecurity, Funding, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Medicaid / Medicare, Seniors, Transportation, Workforce development
Shared by Housing Is on Jan 25, 2019

The Health 202: Policymakers are realizing health is about a lot more than just care

News Article
Jan 25, 2019
Paige Winfield Cunningham for The Washington Post
A whole host of factors — such as friends, housing and transportation — affect a person’s health and how much they need the social safety net. It’s time the government’s big health insurance programs took this reality into account, some lawmakers and policymakers are starting to argue.
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Publication
Community:
Jan 23, 2019
To explore the benefits and challenges of rapid re-housing support services, How Housing Matters asked a group of experts to weigh in. Contributing to the discussion are Kathryn Monet, chief executive officer at the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, Jacob Donnelly, director of supportive services at Swords to Plowshares, and Samantha Batko, research associate at the Urban Institute.

Authored by: How Housing Matters for The Urban Institute
Topics: Asset building, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Supportive housing, Workforce development
Shared by Housing Is on Jan 24, 2019
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Publication
Community:
Jan 24, 2019
Affordable housing campaigns are not new, of course, but what is unprecedented and transformative about Opportunity Starts at Home is the scope and diversity of the partners that are joining forces to advocate for more robust and equitable federal housing policies. The campaign is advised by a Steering Committee including leading national organizations representing a wide range of interests that are working shoulder-to-shoulder to solve the affordable housing crisis.

Authored by: Opportunity Starts at Home
Topics: Asset building, Child welfare, CLPHA, Community development, Early childhood, Education, Food insecurity, Funding, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Immigrants, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Mobility, Out-of-school time, Partnerships, Racial inequalities, Safety, Seniors, Stability, Substance abuse, Youth
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Jan 24, 2019

Within Reach: Ambitious Federal Solutions to Meet the Housing Needs of the Most Vulnerable People

Publication
Jan 24, 2019
Opportunity Starts at Home
Affordable housing campaigns are not new, of course, but what is unprecedented and transformative about Opportunity Starts at Home is the scope and diversity of the partners that are joining forces to advocate for more robust and equitable federal housing policies.
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Publication
Community:
Safe, affordable housing enables low-income people to climb up the income ladder and achieve the American Dream.

Authored by: Opportunity Starts at Home
Topics: Asset building, Housing, Mobility, Partnerships, Research
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Jan 18, 2019
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Report
Community:
Jan 15, 2019
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) together boosted the incomes of 29.1 million Americans in 2017, lifting 8.9 million above the poverty line and making 20.2 million others less poor, our analysis of new Census data shows.

Authored by: Jennifer Beltran for Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Topics: Asset building, Dual-generation, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Research
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Jan 16, 2019

Working-Family Tax Credits Lifted 8.9 Million People out of Poverty in 2017

Report
Jan 15, 2019
Jennifer Beltran for Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) together boosted the incomes of 29.1 million Americans in 2017, lifting 8.9 million above the poverty line and making 20.2 million others less poor, our analysis of new Census data shows.
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News Article
Community:
Jan 6, 2019
According to a new study, the Las Vegas metropolitan area’s share of voucher recipients with children living in low-poverty neighborhoods, one-third, is greater than the share of voucher-affordable rentals located in those same neighborhoods, one-fourth. That’s possible because affordable rentals far outnumber voucher recipients.

Authored by: Michael Scott Davidson for Las Vegas Review-Journal
Topics: Asset building, Education, Housing, Low-income, Mobility, West Coast
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Jan 10, 2019
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Report
Community:
Nov 14, 2018
This report is intended as a practical tool for those seeking to understand how capital does and does not flow to communities, businesses, and households. This can inform efforts by community developers to identify projects in need of financing, raise capital, and design and market new financial products and services. We provide a concise how-to guide across five approaches to assessing community need, a four-step process to study capital flows, and eleven approaches to determining capital gaps. To help ground this, we provide examples drawing from original data about the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.

Authored by: Brett Theodos, Eric Hangen, Carl Hedman, and Brady Meixell for Urban Institute
Topics: Asset building, Community development, Midwest, Stability
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Dec 12, 2018
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Case study
Community:
Dec 11, 2018
As the Trump Administration continues to encourage states to take Medicaid coverage away from people who don’t meet a work requirement, a new report describes Montana’s promising alternative: a workforce promotion program that targets state resources toward reducing barriers to work.

Authored by: Hannah Katch for Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Topics: Affordable Care Act, Asset building, Health, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Medicaid / Medicare, Partnerships, Research, Workforce development
Shared by Housing Is on Dec 11, 2018

Montana Program Supports Work Without Causing Harm

Case study
Dec 11, 2018
Hannah Katch for Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
As the Trump Administration continues to encourage states to take Medicaid coverage away from people who don’t meet a work requirement, a new report describes Montana’s promising alternative: a workforce promotion program that targets state resources toward reducing barriers to work.
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News Article
Community:
Dec 6, 2018
Recent research shows that social safety net programs benefit everyone.

Authored by: David L. Kirk for The New York Times
Topics: Asset building, Child welfare, Community development, Food insecurity, Legislation & Policy, Medicaid / Medicare, Racial inequalities, Research, Workforce development
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Dec 6, 2018
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Report
Community:
May 1, 2018
The Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration (ETJD), funded by the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor, tested seven transitional jobs programs that targeted people recently released from prison or low-income parents who had fallen behind in child support payments.

Authored by: MDRC, OPRE, and Employment and Training Demonstration
Topics: Asset building, Cost effectiveness, Criminal justice, Legislation & Policy, Low-income, Research, Stability, Workforce development, Youth
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Nov 19, 2018
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Research
Community:
Nov 1, 2018
We undertake the first rigorous evaluation of financial coaching using a randomized controlled trial at two sites. We estimate both treatment uptake and treatment outcomes, including intent to treat estimates and complier average causal effects.

Authored by: Brett Theodos, Christina Plerhoples Stacy, and Rebecca Daniels for The Urban Institute
Topics: Asset building, Low-income, Mobility, Research
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Nov 7, 2018

Client led coaching: A random assignment evaluation of the impacts of financial coaching programs

Research
Nov 1, 2018
Brett Theodos, Christina Plerhoples Stacy, and Rebecca Daniels for The Urban Institute
We undertake the first rigorous evaluation of financial coaching using a randomized controlled trial at two sites. We estimate both treatment uptake and treatment outcomes, including intent to treat estimates and complier average causal effects.
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Research
Community:
Nov 1, 2018
Are families prioritizing their housing payments by jeopardizing their health and well-being, missing utility payments, skipping meals, or failing to keep up with medical needs or medical bills? And are renters less able than homeowners to weather a financial emergency, such as an unexpected medical expense? Our research suggests this may be the case.

Authored by: Corianne Scally and Dulce Gonzalez for The Urban Institute
Topics: Asset building, Child welfare, Food insecurity, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Low-income, Research, Stability
Shared by Mica O'Brien on Nov 7, 2018