Moving to Work (MTW) - Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development

General Information

The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) is the Commonwealth's housing and community development agency. Since 1975 it has administered a statewide Section 8 program. DHCD has authority for over 15,000 units of Section 8 housing and contracts with eight regional housing agencies (and one local housing authority) to administer the program on its behalf.

Status

The Massachusetts DHCD Moving to Work (MTW) initiative redesigns a percentage of its Section 8 project account to support families receiving public assistance and making the transition to work. Its MTW program will provide an annual stipend to each participant that has three targeted uses:

• A shallow rent subsidy.
• An automatic contribution to a monthly escrow account.
• A supports budget for work-related expenses.

Goals

• Encourage long-term success in the labor force.
• Promote and support housing choice in the target population.
• Demonstrate that a flexible stipend helps defray the cost of essential housing and work-related expenses during the first few years that a worker transitions from welfare to work, and that this stipend makes a difference in his or her ability to succeed in the workforce.

Agreement

Rent Policies

The annual stipend ($5,500/year in Southern Worcester County and $6,500/year in Boston) will be used:

• To provide a shallow rental subsidy (capped at $250/month in Southern Worcester County and $400/month in Boston).
• To purchase needed services and ancillary supports to achieve their goals, such as unsubsidized day care, transportation, additional skills training, uniforms, etc.
• In addition, a minimum of $50/month from the stipend ($1,800 upon completion) will be set aside in an escrow account, available if the family meets its housing and employment goals at the end of its 3-year participation in the program. The family can elect to use a percentage of their supports budget to supplement this escrow account, if they want to increase their savings. DHCD administers various homeownership programs for low-income families and will match this stipend, if the participant wants to purchase a home (only after successful completion of the MTW program).

Occupancy Policies

• DHCD will test this demonstration in two locations: southern Worcester County and greater Boston.
• Each location will target a different population and will test the effectiveness of the demonstration in a distinct regional job and housing market.
• In Southern Worcester County, participants must be working and not receiving any form of housing assistance.
• In Boston, participants must be homeless and participating in job-readiness activities or working.

Self-sufficiency Policies

Families in MTW will work with an MTW advisor to identify their housing and employment goals and to plan how best to use their MTW stipend to achieve them.

Funding-related Issues

DHCD spends approximately $6,000/household a year on housing assistance for its tenant-based program. DHCD will use the project reserve flexibility provided by the demonstration to support the 183 stipends as well as MTW advisors who will work very closely with each participant over a three-year period.

Support

Boston Regional Office
Office of Public Housing
Thomas P. O'Neil Federal Building
10 Causeway Street
Room 553
Boston, MA 02222-1092
(617) 520-6306
F (617) 565-7305

Donna Ayala
Donna.J.Ayala@hud.gov
Robert Cwieka, Primary Contact
(617) 994-8418
F (617) 565-7305
Robert.P.Cwieka@hud.gov

Contact

Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development
1 Congress Street
10th Floor
Boston, MA 02114
(617) 727-7765
F (617) 727-5060
www.state.ma.us/dhcd/default.htm

MTW Contact Staff
Gretchen Weismann, Primary Contact
(617) 573-1209
F (617) 727-7891
Gretchen.Weismann@ocd.state.ma.us