HUD to Explore Direct Cash Payments for Housing Assistance
By: Hannah Gable, Director of Strategy and Operations
HUD to Explore Direct Cash Payments for Housing Assistance
Last month, the HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development Brian McCabe shared that HUD is exploring a cash housing assistance pilot as a potential replacement to traditional housing vouchers. McCabe made this announcement on a panel at the Guaranteed Income Now conference in Detroit. If approved, the voucher subsidy would go directly to the renter instead of to the landlord. This comes in response to the challenges facing Section 8 voucher holders – in some cities, over 70% of landlords refuse to rent to households with vouchers.
Many are already testing direct cash payments for housing with promising results: Philadelphia and PHLHousing+, Rochester’s guaranteed income program, and Washington D.C. and DC Flex. To measure the effectiveness of DC Flex, a finalist for the 2022 Ivory Prize, HUD funded a research study on the program’s first year –the subsidy did not directly lower homelessness rates, but the use of other homelessness support programs decreased by 29%.
HUD adjusting the format of rental assistance benefits would be a meaningful reform to the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program – something that academic, private, and public sector leaders have been calling for – and provide an exciting opportunity for technological innovation. We see similar innovations across safety net programs, specifically with organizations like Propel and Code for America, who are building streamlined, user-friendly mobile applications to help households access government benefits, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Many landlords complain about the bureaucracy involved in getting approved and receiving payment through HUD. If HUD implements this change, there is an opportunity to re-imagine the process for how low-income households engage with these benefits, and integrate technology in a thoughtful and equitable way to improve the experience.
Our focus at Ivory Innovations is to identify solutions on the leading edge of innovation, where we can support entrepreneurs working on those ideas which will take off in the next 2-5 years. If you’re an entrepreneur focused on innovating in housing policy or technology, we’d love to hear from you at info@ivoryinnovations.org.