Supporting Statement for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission for Interviews with Tenants and Landlords
Small Area Fair Market Rent Demonstration Evaluation
OMB Number: 2528-New
Part B. Statistical Methods
Respondent Universe and Sampling Methods
Across the seven PHAs in the evaluation, there are approximately 48,000 households who annually participate in the HCV program, receiving rental assistance for at least one month a year. Exhibit B-1 presents the number of households in the HCV program of the seven PHAs in the study. A total of 70 HCV holders and 35 landlords will be interviewed for the evaluation. The interviewees will be comprised of ten HCV holders and five landlords at each of the seven SAFMR PHAs. The selection of interview respondents is not intended to provide a representative sample of all tenant households and landlords. While the number of planned interviews is modest, in keeping with the constraints of the budget, it is sufficient to surface major issues regarding awareness and understanding of the SAFMRs that will be important for interpreting the quantitative findings of the study and for future policy development.
Exhibit B-1: HCV Program Size by Number of Households, PHAs Implementing SAFMRs, 2015
PHA |
Number of Households |
City of Long Beach Housing Authority (CA) |
7,030 |
Housing Authority of the County of Cook (IL) |
14,411 |
Town of Mamaroneck Housing Authority (NY) |
536 |
Chattanooga Housing Authority (TN) |
4,064 |
Housing Authority of the City of Laredo (TX) |
1,304 |
Housing Authority of the City of Dallas (TX) |
19,553 |
Housing Authority if Plano (TX) |
1,166 |
Total |
48,064 |
Source: HUD PIC Data, 2015.
The selection of interview respondents – 70 HCV holders and 35 landlords – is not intended to provide a representative sample of all tenant households and landlords. The respondents will represent a mix of experiences in the HCV program. The exact mix of interviewees will be determined by Abt Associates in consultation with HUD, and ideally, interviews will be conducted with a range of HCV holders – new voucher recipients as well as movers, people who lease in neighborhoods deemed as opportunity areas and those who do not – and a range of landlords – those who experienced a decrease in payment standards and those with units in opportunity areas with rents within reach of HCV holders who either do or do not rent to HCV holders.
The initial planned distribution of HCV holders is presented in Exhibit B-2. The distribution reflects the goal of maximizing the types of individuals to be interviewed in each site. In particular, households include those who stayed in low rent ZIP Codes, and those that moved into high and low-rent ZIP Codes. Because there is concern about relocation difficulties faced by disabled and elderly households, the goal is to ensure that in each site interviews at least two such households, including one that stayed in a pre-SAFMR unit in a low-rent ZIP Code and one that moved.
Exhibit B-2: HCV Holder Interview Distribution
Household Move Type |
Elderly/Disabled
Households |
Family Households Per Site |
Total |
Same unit – low rent ZIP Code |
1 |
1 |
2 |
Mover – low to high rent ZIP Code |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Mover – low to low rent ZIP Code |
1 |
1 |
2 |
Repeat mover – low to high to low rent ZIP Code |
0 |
1 |
1 |
New HCV holder (since implementation) – low rent ZIP Code |
0 |
2 |
2 |
New HCV holder (since implementation) – high rent ZIP Code |
0 |
2 |
2 |
Total |
2 |
8 |
10 |
To identify HCV holders as prospective interviewees, Abt Associates will first use HUD administrative data to generate a list of households that meet these neighborhood and mover criteria. Data are anonymized from Abt’s perspective (without HCV holder names, addresses, or other contact information). After generating a list of households that meet the moving and neighborhood criteria, approximately 10 times as many candidate households as eventual interviewees (700 in total) will be randomly selected from the list so to ensure a sufficient number of households from which to recruit. The anonymized household identifiers for these households will be sent to HUD, and HUD will return names and addresses for these households. Abt will then provide these names and addresses to the SAFMR PHAs with a request that the PHAs provide Abt with telephone numbers and email addresses (if available) that Abt can use to contact the individuals to request an interview.
The initial planned distribution of landlords is presented in Exhibit B-3. Abt Associates and Quadel Consulting will work with the PHAs to obtain listings of landlords from which to find interview candidates. At least 5 times as many names will be requested as interviewees (approximately 175 in total) to ensure a sufficient number of landlords from which to recruit. It is anticipated that that PHA staff will be able to identify a small number of non-participating landlords from which we can sample interviewees.
Exhibit B-3: Landlord Interview Distribution
Landlord Group |
|
Landlord in low-rent ZIP Code who rented prior to SAFMRs and remained in the program |
1 |
Landlord in low-rent ZIP Code who rented prior to SAFMRs and is now not renting units in the HCV program, or who is renting substantially fewer units |
1 |
Landlord in high-rent ZIP Code who was renting to HCV holders prior to SAFMRs and is still renting units in the HCV program |
1 |
Landlord in high-rent ZIP Code who only began renting to HCV holders following the introduction of SAFMRs |
1 |
Landlord with experience in high-rent ZIP Code who has never rented to HCV holders |
1 |
Total |
5 |
Once the contact information has been received from the PHAs, Abt Associates and Quadel Consulting staff will call tenants and landlords to describe the study and recruit them for the interviews. These are in-person interviews that will be scheduled to be conducted during site visits. The interviews will last approximately 45 minutes and will be conducted as open-ended discussions. Interviews with landlords will be conducted at their offices or at another convenient place. Interviews with HCV holders will be conducted in PHA offices, cafes, or another place that is convenient for the interviewee. Once interviews are scheduled, a follow up email or letter will be sent to the respondent to confirm the scheduled interview.
Because the interviews do not include sensitive data, we expect to have a high response rate. To maximize response and find the targeted number of tenants and landlords for interviews, we have planned to recruit from large numbers of possible interviewees. Households that will comprise the pool of possible tenant interviewees will have been pre-selected based on mover and neighborhood characteristics, so there should be no instances of nonresponse based on a household not meeting those criteria. Abt Associates and Quadel Consulting will work with PHA staff to identify landlords to be interviewed. PHAs may be able to recommend landlords who would more likely be willing and able to participate in the study.
Early drafts of the interview protocols have been reviewed by HUD personnel, Abt Associates staff, Quadel Consulting staff, and Dr. Stefanie Deluca in order to ensure that the instruments are clear, flow well, and are as concise as possible. In addition, the Tenant Interview Protocol and the Landlord Interview Protocol submitted in this package will be tested with up to nine respondents.
HUD has contracted with Abt Associates and Quadel Consulting to conduct the data collection. The data collection procedures will be similar to those used in other surveys conducted by Abt Associates. The HUD Government Technical Representative (GTR) reviewed all the procedures and had them reviewed by other subject matter experts at HUD. If there are any questions about this submission, please call either the HUD GTR, Marie Lihn (202-402-5866) or the Abt Associates Principal Investigator, Meryl Finkel (617-349-2380).
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Guido, Anna P |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-22 |