PRESERVING PUBLIC HOUSING: ISSUES AND OPTIONS
Session II: Housing Choice and Tenant Mobility
July 26, 2010
2:00-4:00 p.m. ET
Panelists:
• Mary Cunningham, Senior Research Associate, The Urban Institute
• Mary-Anne Morrison, Director, Bureau of Rental Assistance Programs, Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development
• Margery Austin Turner, Vice President for Research, The Urban Institute
• Douglas Rice, Senior Policy Analyst, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (moderator)
This is the second in a series of forums on issues raised by Obama Administration's proposed Preservation, Enhancement and Transformation of Rental Assistance Act (PETRA).
PETRA seeks to expand the choices available to low-income families by allowing residents of project-based developments the option to use a voucher to move to a unit of their choice and by encouraging regional consolidation and coordination of vouchers. Panelists will discuss the potential impact of the changes, research on the effects of expanded housing choice on families, the experiences of housing agencies with regional administration and with allowing project-based tenants the option to move, and other strategies that could broaden housingchoices for low-income families.
This proposed legislation calls for converting public and some other subsidized housing to a new type of Section 8 rental assistance, leveraging public funding to access private capital to meet public housing preservation needs, and expanding housing choices for assisted housing residents. The proposal has far-reaching implications for the future of public housing – and ithas been met with both praise and criticism from stakeholders.
The forums will focus on three sets of critical policy issues raised by PETRA: residents' rights and participation, the financing of public housing preservation, and housing choice and mobility. In each session, a panel of expert practitioners and scholars will discuss these issues in light of their experience in the field and the evidence from relevant bodies of research, as well as the options for addressing concerns expressed by tenants, housing authorities, and others.
At the Urban Institute
2100 M Street N.W., 5th Floor, Washington, D.C.
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