Issues: Work and Income Security

Housing/Community Initiatives

For more than 15 years, MDRC has developed and evaluated community revitalization initiatives and “place-based” employment programs that aim to improve the prospects of people who live in high-poverty urban neighborhoods.

The Latest

Report

Long-Term Effects from the Original Jobs Plus Demonstration: Employment and Earnings for Public Housing Residents after 20 Years

The Jobs Plus demonstration aimed to increase economic empowerment and mobility for public housing residents through on-site employment services, rent-based work incentives, and supportive work activities. Sites that fully implemented the model saw long-term positive employment and earnings effects, but negative effects were observed in sites that did not.

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Full

Report

Participation and Labor Market Impacts for the First 24 Sites to Replicate HUD’s Jobs Plus Program

In 2014, HUD scaled up Jobs Plus, a rigorously tested and promising model offering rent incentives and on-site work supports to public housing residents. The first three cohorts show no evidence of higher employment or earnings during the early years, potentially due to lower participation levels and implementation challenges.

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Key Documents

Brief

Sustained Earnings Gains for Residents in a Public Housing Jobs Program

Seven-Year Findings from the Jobs-Plus Demonstration

An extended analysis of Jobs-Plus, an ambitious employment program inside some of the nation’s poorest inner-city public housing developments, finds substantial effects on residents’ earnings a full three years after the program ended.

Helping Public Housing Residents Find and Keep Jobs

A Guide for Practitioners Based on the Jobs-Plus Demonstration

This guide contains practical advice on implementing a program model — known as the Jobs-Plus Community Initiative for Public Housing Families (Jobs-Plus) — aimed at helping public housing residents find and keep jobs.

Understanding Collective Action in Chicago Through Social Network Analysis

MDRC launches the first of a five-part web series from the Chicago Community Networks study — a mixed-methods initiative that combines formal social network analysis with in-depth field surveys of community practitioners. It measures how community organizations collaborate on local improvement projects and how they come together to shape public policy.

Supporting Moves to Opportunity Focus Area: Housing/Community Initiatives Population: Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Counseling/Advising, Financial Incentives Locations: Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin	Moving To Work Focus Area: Housing/Community Initiatives Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Financial Incentives	Creating Moves to Opportunity Focus Area: Housing/Community Initiatives Population: Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Counseling/Advising, Financial Incentives Locations: Washington
HomePath Focus Area: Health Housing/Community Initiatives Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Intervention: Coordinated Care/Care Management	MyGoals for Employment Success Focus Area: Housing/Community Initiatives Financial Incentives Work Support and Asset Building Population: Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Financial Incentives, Employment Services Locations: Maryland, Texas	NYC Change Capital Fund’s Economic Mobility Initiative Focus Area: Housing/Community Initiatives Population: Populations with Low Incomes Populations with Barriers to Employment Families Locations: New York
Rent Reform Demonstration Focus Area: Housing/Community Initiatives Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Financial Incentives	The Family Self-Sufficiency Program Evaluation Focus Area: Housing/Community Initiatives Work Support and Asset Building Population: Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Case Management, Asset Building, Financial Incentives, Employment Services Locations: California, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas	Chicago’s New Communities Program Focus Area: Housing/Community Initiatives Elementary and Middle School Young People Who Leave High School Before Graduation Population: Populations with Low Incomes Locations: Illinois
Mayor’s Fund & Center for Economic Opportunity Social Innovation Fund Project Focus Area: Work Support and Asset Building Financial Incentives Young People Who Leave High School Before Graduation Housing/Community Initiatives Population: Populations with Low Incomes Young Adults Intervention: Sectoral Training, Reemployment Programs, Asset Building, Financial Incentives, GED Completion, Job Training, Employment Services Locations: Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas	Jobs-Plus Community Revitalization Initiative for Public Housing Families Focus Area: Housing/Community Initiatives Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Financial Incentives, Employment Services Locations: California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington

Work Rewards Focus Area: Work Support and Asset Building Financial Incentives Housing/Community Initiatives Population: Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Financial Incentives, Employment Services Locations: New York	The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Focus Area: Housing/Community Initiatives Population: Populations with Low Incomes Locations: California, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Washington	Neighborhood Jobs Initiative Focus Area: Housing/Community Initiatives Population: Populations with Barriers to Employment Intervention: Job Training, Employment Services Locations: Connecticut, Dist. of Columbia, Illinois, New York, Texas
California Works for Better Health Focus Area: Housing/Community Initiatives Health Population: Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: Employment Services Locations: California	The Camden Regional Equity Demonstration Project Focus Area: Housing/Community Initiatives Population: Populations with Low Incomes Locations: New Jersey

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