CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
The traditional goal of federally funded housing programs has been to
provide decent, affordable housing to those who could not otherwise pay
for it. As a number of critics have noted, however, this has resulted in
inequities. Only about a quarter of the households potentially eligible
for housing subsidies actually receive them. In addition, the traditional
goal of providing decent housing ignores the more fundamental problems
of unemployment, low wages, lack of job skills, and substance abuse. The
provision of decent housing, therefore, only addresses a symptom of more
fundamental problems. In light of these limitations, Congress has given
public housing programs a new charge: to help families achieve economic
independence.
The Housing and Community Development Act of 1987 (Public Law 100-242)
authorized the Public Housing Comprehensive Transition Demonstration, a
program intended to move residents out of public housing and into their
own homes. The Gateway Housing Program in Charlotte, North Carolina, is
the only demonstration site in the country. This report, mandated by Section
126 of the Act, assesses the effectiveness of the program and responds
to the Congressional charge for a final report.
The Gateway Program
The Gateway Housing Program is one of the first in a series of self-sufficiency
programs sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD). It grew out of Project Self-Sufficiency, a demonstration program
introduced by HUD in 1984 to provide additional Section 8 Certificates
to public housing authorities interested in developing programs to help
single heads of households achieve economic independence. Project Self-Sufficiency
contained what have become the core elements of today’s self-sufficiency
programs: (1) a coordinating committee composed of representatives of the
local housing authority and major social service providers in the area,
(2) a procedure for conducting individualized assessments of participant
needs in order to develop program plans, and (3) case managers to help
participants obtain the necessary support and to provide encouragement
throughout the program. According to a HUD interim report published in
1988, a total of 155 housing authorities participated in Project Self-Sufficiency,
providing ten thousand Section 8 Certificates. Of the 9,928 single mothers
who entered the program, 42 percent completed it and either obtained full-time
jobs with growth potential or enrolled in college degree programs (U.S.
HUD, 1988). In 1989, a demonstration program named Operation Bootstrap
superseded Project Self-Sufficiency. While housing authorities that had
active Project Self-Sufficiency programs continued operation, the new program
expanded the clientele to include all families and not just single parent
families. An additional 61 housing authorities, with nearly 3,000 families,
participated in the next 30 months. The participating families made modest
but noticeable progress toward employment but not necessarily toward greater
self-sufficiency (U.S. HUD 1994a).
In 1987, the staff of the Charlotte Housing Authority (CHA) developed
a variation on Project Self-Sufficiency that they called the Gateway Transitional
Families Program. The program grew out of a survey of CHA families who
wanted to leave public housing but lacked the work experience and skills
needed to obtain the kinds of jobs that would make this possible. These
families were asked what it would take to enable them to leave public housing,
and this led to two new suggestions: escrow accounts and a freeze on need-based
benefits or rent, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) payments,
and Food Stamps. The escrow accounts, funded with a portion of participants’
rent payments, were to be used to help them buy their own homes. The freeze
would prevent benefits from being reduced or rents increased as incomes
went up, providing participants an additional incentive to work.
In March 1987, the CHA recommended these changes in a letter to Representative
J. Alex McMillan (R-NC) and Senator Terry Sanford (D-NC); and they, in
turn, introduced the bill authorizing the Public Housing Comprehensive
Transition Demonstration (Section 126 of the Housing and Community Development
Act of 1987). Although the bill allowed for up to nine additional sites,
CHA was the only public housing authority in the country to launch the
program. It began on January 1, 1989, after CHA obtained the appropriate
waivers and support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, the North Carolina Department of Social Services,
and the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services.
Soon after the Gateway Housing Program began, Congress authorized the
Family Self-Sufficiency Program (FSS) in the National Affordable Housing
Act of 1990. The Family Self-Sufficiency program contains many of the elements
of the Gateway program, including a provision for escrow accounts. As of
1993, all housing authorities receiving additional units or Section 8 Vouchers
or Certificates are required to offer self-sufficiency programs. The program
size is in proportion to the total number of new public housing units and
Section 8 Vouchers or Certificates. Housing authorities may receive waivers
from this requirement for several reasons, including lack of cooperation
from local social service agencies. Currently, approximately 1,200 housing
authorities sponsor Family Self-Sufficiency Programs.
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Method
The evaluation design for the Gateway Housing Program is longitudinal,
following program participants and a comparison group over a six-year period.
Between January 1989 and June 1993, 153 people entered the program. The
comparison group is composed of 71 people who applied to the program but
either did not complete the application process or declined participation
once accepted. [ In most cases, the reason for declining participation
was a reluctance to move from their current unit as required by the authorizing
legislation. The units offered to approved applicants were perceived, in
many instances, as less desirable than the ones in which they were currently
living.]
Data were collected from four sources: interviews with program entrants
and the comparison group, program files, interviews with service agencies
involved in the program, and focus groups.
First, an attempt was made to interview everyone in both groups three
times over a five-year period, 1990-1995 (see Appendix). We were able to
successfully interview 128 of the original 153 program entrants, a response
rate of 84 percent, and 54 of the 71 comparison group members, a response
rate of 76 percent, were interviewed at least once. The first interview
included retrospective questions, allowing those who were interviewed only
once to be included in some longitudinal analyses.
We also extracted data from program files on each person who applied
for the program between 1989 and 1995. Application information provided
baseline data on educational attainment, employment status, and wage levels,
as well as such basic information as the date of application, the date
of entrance into the program, and the date of birth for each applicant.
Because the program files also contain outcome information (e.g., drop-out,
graduate, continuing participant) for each entrant, we have been able to
show program outcomes for those we were unable to survey more than one
time.
Third, we conducted annual, semi-structured interviews with representatives
of the agencies involved in the program, including the Charlotte Housing
Authority, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Department of Social Services, the
Charlotte Department of Employment and Training, and Child Care Resources
Incorporated. These interviews covered a variety of topics, including the
role of the agency in the program, the amount of staff time devoted to
the program, special considerations given to Gateway participants, problems
with the program, and the progress of participants through the program.
Last, we conducted separate focus groups with those who are still participating
in the program, those who withdrew, those who graduated, and those who
applied but did not follow-through on their applications. The questions
posed to these groups included their reasons for participating or not participating
in the program, their difficulties staying with the program, what they
liked and disliked about the program, why those who withdrew left, and
what could have helped them complete the program.
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Report Outline
Chapter 2
of this report presents the basics of the Gateway Housing Program -- its
elements and implementation and the demographics of its participants. The
chapter also examines the importance of various elements of the program
to those who entered. Chapter
3 gives an overview of program outcomes and how problems in implementation
contributed to those outcomes. Chapter
4 compares program entrants and comparison group members on a number
of outcomes: education, employment and wages, dependence on AFDC and Food
Stamps, the use of housing assistance, and homeownership. Chapter
5 presents the costs of the program. The final chapter, Chapter
6, draws conclusions from the Gateway demonstration program and offers
recommendations for designing and implementing self-sufficiency programs
in the future.
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Table
of Contents
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