WHAT IS THE MTO DEMONSTRATION? - MTO is a unique random assignment research effort sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
- This demonstration was designed to help very low-income families living in public housing or Section 8 project-based housing in extremely poor neighborhoods to relocate to “opportunity neighborhoods” for greater self-sufficiency and improved individual and family well-being.
- The MTO demonstration ran in five large cities-Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York-between September 1994 and August 1998.
- A total of 4,608 families enrolled in the MTO demonstration and were randomly assigned. The demonstration combined Section 8 rental assistance with intensive housing search and counseling services to ease families' relocation to low-poverty communities and help them become self-sufficient.
WHAT DATA ARE AVAILABLE TO RESEARCHERS?
- Data are available for 4,248 of those families (all families enrolled through 1997).
- Data are available for both adults and children ages 5-19 as of June 2000.
- Data are available in 6 different policy areas of interest:
- Housing mobility and assistance;
- Adult education, employment, and earnings;
- Household income and cash assistance;
- Adult, youth, and child physical and mental health;
- Youth and child social well-being, including delinquency and risky behavior; and
- Youth and child educational performance.
ARE THERE ANY RESTRICTIONS OR IMPORTANT ITEMS TO NOTE ABOUT THIS PROCESS?
- Researchers will be selected through a competitive process.
- HUD is providing access to the data only-there is no funding available.
- Successful applicants will be subject to strict data protection requirements.
- First round applications for access to the data are due June 30, 2004.
For more information on how to apply to use these data, download the solicitation (it is in Microsoft Word format).
