New research improves CHA service to relocating families
Faced with the national trend that only 15 percent of
relocating families return to public housing, last year, the Chicago Housing
Authority (CHA) enlisted the help of the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) to
research ways to maintain contact with families about their option to return to
a rehabbed or new unit. Even before MPC completed its report, CHA was using its
practical suggestions to develop a seven-point strategy for improving service to
families relocating from public housing into the private market. CHA publicly
unveiled that strategy today at a meeting of public housing stakeholders
organized by MPC. Temporary Relocation, Permanent Choice: Serving Families with
Rent Vouchers During the Chicago Housing Authority Plan for
Transformation
— MPC’s report — was also released
today.
“In order to provide the best array of services, with limited resources, it
is critical that CHA staff have access to in-depth research to help shape
their service model," said Robin Snyderman, MPC housing director. “The report we
commissioned on CHA’s behalf outlines three areas of recommendations — the most
important of which is coordination of services to residents.” The other areas
are resident involvement in the Plan for Transformation and building support for
the Plan.
Said Meghan
Harte,
CHA's director of
relocation,
“We have developed a broad, new set of programs to prevent homelessness, help
families return to public housing, aid families as they integrate into new
communities, and ensure all families achieve stability.”
The CHA’s new strategy
includes:
- Asingle point of contact for relocating families;
- Support for families already in the private market;
- An increased role for developers in the relocation
process;
- Supportive housing for residents with intensive
service needs;
- An improved “service connector” program for families
not moving;
- Coordinated communication; and
- Community building and intervention.
MPC’s
report was written by Kale Williams, senior scholar at Loyola University’s Center
for Urban Research and Learning; Paul Fischer, professor of politics at Lake
Forest College; and Mary Ann Russ, senior researcher with Abt Associates, who
surveyed public housing relocation activities in other cities. For input,
Williams and Fischer reviewed relevant relocation documents and interviewed
community-based representatives, advocates, developers, marketing specialists,
Local Advisory Council leaders, and CHA relocation and social service
contractors. They also conducted two focus groups with residents.
“The
current leadership of the CHA is undertaking the largest overhaul of public
housing ever, while they’re combating a negative reputation — not of their own
making, but nevertheless pervasive,” said Kale Williams, one of the authors and
founding CEO of the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities.
“The recommendations we’ve outlined in
this report, and the new programs CHA staff have already set in motion, are
essential to providing meaningful choices and support services to CHA residents,
while improving public perceptions of the CHA itself,” he
added.
The
report’s first recommendation is for a simplified relocation process that offers
a single point of contact for residents — known as a Contact Counselor — and a
detailed description of the Contact Counselor’s role and responsibilities is
provided. The report’s other recommendations call on the CHA
to:
- Involve residents in the relocation process as
advisors in planning and design of new or rehabilitated development and in
communication with other residents concerning access to services and progress
on the Plan for Transformation;
- Use a range of communications, such as one-page
mailings, media releases and development-site social events, to maintain
contact with relocated residents and correct mistaken impressions about CHA;
and
- Invest in creating a new identity for itself as a caring, efficient,
accessible public agency that supports families and revitalizing
neighborhoods.
Temporary Relocation, Permanent Choice
, available online
at
www.metroplanning.org
, is the latest in a series of works
the CHA has used to bolster their new relocation
program. Other research includes
independent monitor Tom Sullivan’s recent recommendations for improving the
relocation process
and The Robert Taylor
Homes Relocation
Study, a report by Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh of Columbia
University’s Center for Urban Research, released last
fall.
Founded in 1934, MPC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group of business and civic
leaders committed to serving the public interest through the promotion and
implementation of sensible planning and development policies necessary for a
world-class Chicago region.
For more information, contact Robin Snyderman, MPC housing director, at 312.863.6007.