HUD Section 811 PRA Project Rental Assistance Program Phase II Evaluation Final Report Implementation and Short-Term Outcomes

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Section 811 Project Rental Assistance (PRA) Program provides rental housing assistance to nonelderly people with disabilities. In this second phase of its evaluation of the PRA program, HUD sought to determine the impact of the program on residents’ housing tenancy and use of home and community-based services, characteristics of properties and neighborhoods where assisted residents live, and residents’ healthcare diagnoses and utilization. In order to assess the program’s effectiveness, the study compared short-term outcomes of the PRA program against outcomes for residents in the Section 811 Capital Advance/Project Rental Assistance Contract program (referred to as PRAC in this report), outcomes for people with disabilities in other HUD rental assistance programs, and outcomes for a group of similar people who receive Medicaid but are not assisted by HUD programs.

The evaluation found that the PRA program assists people who are different from people with disabilities in HUD’s other housing assistance programs in their demographic characteristics, the types and sizes of properties they live in, and the characteristics of the neighborhoods where they live. PRA residents have lower incomes, have more chronic and disabling conditions, and are more likely to have had long-term stays in inpatient settings. Looking at early outcomes for a sample of units in just six states, both housing unit and neighborhood quality are lower for PRA units than for PRAC units. PRA units have greater access to public transportation and are in neighborhoods with greater walkability, but PRA residents do not feel as safe in their neighborhoods.