Recently Released: Voucher Homeownership Program Assessment Volume 2: Case Studies

The Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998
and HUD's final rules for the voucher homeownership
program have enabled Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) to
offer low-income households the option of using their
vouchers for homeownership.

HUD's Office of Policy Development & Research recently
published the first assessment of this program in a two-
volume report titled "Voucher Homeownership Program
Assessment". Volume 2 includes case studies of selected
programs. The first assessment of the program at this
early stage of implementation has recently been released,
as is available from HUD USER. The latest report focuses
on programs in 12 locations across the country,
including:

o Bernalillo County, NM
o Colorado (state program)
o Danville, VA
o Green Bay, WI
o Milwaukee, WI
o Missoula, MT
o Montgomery County, PA
o Nashville, TN
o San Bernardino, CA
o Syracuse, NY
o Toledo, OH
o Vermont (state program)
 
As of September 2002, the voucher homeownership program
has helped approximately 500 low-income families become
homeowners. Volume 2 provides details on the voucher
homeownership programs at each of the study sites and
tells the story of program implementation from the
perspective of program staff, partners, and participants.
The case studies presented in Volume 2 form the basis of
the cross-site findings presented in Volume 1. The case
studies discuss in detail the program choices that the
study sites made in designing local voucher homeownership
programs, and the challenges that the PHAs and their
partners have faced in program implementation.

The case studies were developed following two-day site
visits to each of the 12 study sites. During the site
visits, the authors interviewed program staff, partners,
and program participants; gathered data on participating
families from PHA administrative files; and compiled
detailed information on how home purchases are financed.
Finally, the authors collected U.S. Census Bureau data at
the neighborhood level to evaluate how the neighborhoods
in which families are purchasing compare to the
neighborhoods in which they were renting. The case
studies provide insight into how local factors - such as
housing market conditions, PHA staff capacity, and the
availability of program partners - have shaped program
design and implementation at each study site. The
diversity of the study sites in terms of housing markets,
PHA types, and populations served is such that the case
studies should also offer useful lessons to a range of
PHAs that may be considering participation in the
program.

Each case study covers the following topics:

o Housing market conditions;
o Program design, including targeting and outreach,
homeownership counseling, home search and inspections,
financing models, and post-purchase activities;
o Program management, staffing, and partnerships;
o Program outcomes; and
o Lessons learned.

The case studies include numerous exhibits designed to be
helpful for PHAs considering the voucher homeownership
option. These exhibits include a flow diagram of the
voucher homeownership purchase process at each site;
summaries of the study sites' approaches to targeting and
outreach, counseling, and inspections; and sample
purchase transactions to illustrate the financing
arrangements in place at each site. Finally, the case
studies document the key advice that program directors
and staff at the 12 study sites offered to PHAs
considering participation in the homeownership program.

Volume 1, the cross-site analysis, is also available on
the Web, as is "Voucher Homeownership Program Assessment
Volume 2: Case Studies" at
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/publications/hsgfin/msd_vol1_vol2.html
The publications are also available in printed form for a
nominal charge by calling HUD USER at 1-800-245-2691.
--------------------------------------
Please contact HUD USER at:
HUD USER
P.O. Box 23268
Washington, DC 20026-3268
1-800-245-2691
1-800-927-7589 (TDD)
202-708-9981 (fax)
--------------------------------------
The HUD USER News listserv was created to keep
professionals in the fields of housing and community
development abreast of new research and resources
available from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development's Office of Policy Development and Research
(PD&R). Periodically, publications and announcements will
be sent via the listserv.

Share HUD USER's resources and information with a
colleague. Please consider forwarding this e-mail to an
associate who may be interested in the resources HUD USER
has to offer. Thanks!

To stay abreast of new HUD research and resources,
subscribe to HUD USER News. This listserv will
automatically e-mail you publication announcements and
other notices from HUD's Office of Policy Development and
Research. To subscribe, send a message to:
hudusernews@huduser.gov. In the subject of the message,
type: subscribe. For example:
To: hudusernews@huduser.gov
Subject: subscribe

You will receive a confirmation message with instructions
on how to post messages to the list, search the message
archives, and how to unsubscribe. You may use your web
browser to search the listserv message archives at
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/elist/archive.html