Population: Low-Income Populations

People in Public Housing

MDRC developed and evaluated the successful Jobs-Plus program, which increased earnings of residents of public housing and is being replicated in several locations, and also evaluated the Family Self Sufficiency program, including a version with additional financial incentives.

The Latest
Commentary

Want Landlords to Lease to Families with Housing Vouchers? Try Asking in New Ways

In this commentary originally published by Route Fifty, Jonathan Bigelow highlights the national challenge of finding landlords who will accept Housing Choice Vouchers. However, evidence from the Creating Moves to Opportunity (CMTO) project in King County and Seattle offers lessons about what might help landlords say yes.

Overview »
Report

Work, Engagement, and Well-Being at the Midpoint

The federal Family Self-Sufficiency program works with Housing Choice Voucher recipients to foster economic self-sufficiency and boost assets through case management and an escrow account for participants’ increased earnings. This three-year report examines program implementation, participants’ engagement, and impacts on employment, government benefits receipt, and material and financial well-being.

Overview »
Full
Key Documents
Report

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.

Read More »
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.

Read More »
Report

Building Self-Sufficiency for Housing Voucher Recipients

Interim Findings from the Work Rewards Demonstration in New York City

This report presents four-year findings from a test of three interventions: the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program, FSS plus cash work incentives, and cash work incentives alone. FSS+incentives improved employment and earnings among participants who were not working at study entry, but none of the interventions had impacts for participants overall.

Read More »