HOUSING

Support and assessment of Housing Choice Voucher program
Office of Public and Indian Housing

The Office of Public and Indian Housing’s (PIH) Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program is the Federal Government’s major program for assisting very-low-income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market. Today’s HCV program provides approximately 1.9 million low-income families with subsidies to help them afford decent rental housing. Housing Choice Vouchers are administered locally by public housing agencies (PHAs) that receive Federal funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). PHAs are required to maintain and submit data to HUD regarding their projected and actual expenditures and other information. HUD tracks the PHA submissions in several data systems and utilizes the data to allocate subsidies for budgeting purposes and to project the impact of proposed changes on the program’s effectiveness and efficiency.

Econometrica is working with PIH to improve the quality of the HCV program by assisting in the development, implementation, and improvement of quality-assurance processes, procedures, and guidance. This includes providing support to the newly created HCV Quality Assurance Division and reviewing voucher data and voucher-data reporting and validation processes. Econometrica is also conducting Housing Voucher and Quality Assurance Training for the Quality Assurance Division and other PIH staff.