Interview Guide For Participating Families Who Have Leased Up

INSTRUMENT 6: INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR PARTICIPATING FAMILIES WHO HAVE LEASED UP

Evaluation of the Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration

This guide is for treatment and control group families that have successfully leased-up with a voucher through the [MOBILITY PROGRAM] program or with usual Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program services, including both existing and new admission voucher families.

[AFTER CONSENT PROCESS IN ATTACHMENT H]

The Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This collection of information is voluntary and will be used to evaluate the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 90 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The collection of this information has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget under OMB No. XXXX-XXXX, which expires on MM/DD/YYYY. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to XX at XXXX@XXX or NNN-NNN-NNNN.

The tape recorder is now on.

OK, let’s start.

WARM-UP/BACKGROUND [All Respondents]

First, I’d like to learn a bit about you, your family, and the reasons you were interested in moving.

1. Tell me about who lives with you.

1. How many children live here with you? What are their ages and what grade are they in?

[Note that names will be removed/redacted.]

2. About how long have you been in the voucher program?

1. [Existing voucher families] How many different apartments/homes have you lived in while in the voucher program?

3. What was your living situation before you moved to this house/apartment?

[New voucher families] Probes: living in their own home, doubled up with friends or family, in a shelter?

[If living with friend or family] Was that a temporary arrangement, or were you able to stay there as long as you liked?

1. What is the name of the neighborhood in which you were living? Can you tell me the zip code?

2. About how long did you live in that neighborhood?

3. [New admission families] did you end up moving with your voucher? Or did you use your voucher in your old unit?

4. [For families that moved] Why did you move from where you were living before?

Probes: Housing-related reasons, including lack of stable housing/homelessness, neighborhood-related reasons, other reasons?

1. What was the main reason you moved?

Probes: Housing-related reasons, including lack of stable housing/homelessness, neighborhood-related reasons, other reasons?

HOUSING SEARCH [All Respondents]

1. Tell me about your recent housing search. What went well? What was challenging?

2. What were the main ways you searched for housing?

Probes: Using the PHA’s list or GoSection 8, searching other online websites for housing listings, asking family and friends, driving around neighborhoods?

[Treatment group] Housing identified by [MOBILITY PROGRAM]?

1. About how long did you search for housing with your voucher before you found the place you’re in now?

3. [Existing voucher families] Did you already have an idea about the area or neighborhood where you wanted to live before you asked to move with your voucher?

[New voucher families] Did you already have an idea about the area or neighborhood where you wanted to live before you received your voucher?

1. [If yes] Can you tell me more about that. Where did you want to move?

2. Did that change at all once you started your search? [If yes] How so?

3. [Treatment group] Did that change at all after you enrolled in [MOBILITY PROGRAM]? [If yes] How so?

1. What neighborhoods did you look in?

1. How would you describe your search: was it limited to particular neighborhoods or more open?

2. What did you like about those places?

3. How did you decide on those neighborhoods?

4. How familiar are you with these neighborhoods?

5. Are there neighborhoods you wanted to avoid? [If yes] Which neighborhoods? What made you want to avoid them?

5. When deciding where to live, what was most important to you?

Probes: The home itself, the specific neighborhood, safety, the schools, close to family/friends, other factors?

6. Did your children’s needs factor into decisions about neighborhoods? [If yes] How?

Probes: Daycare or childcare, schools, medical care, family or community ties, etc.?

7. [If schools/education identified as a decision factor, ask] How did your children’s schooling affect your decisions about where to search for housing?

Probes: School stability, distance/commute; teacher quality, school safety, academic programs, extracurricular/after-school programs, college preparation?

1. Did your children change schools because of your move? [If yes] How did you/ feel about your children changing schools? How did your children feel about changing schools?

8. Did anyone else help you make the decision to choose this home? Family? Friends? Children? Can you tell me more about the help they provided?

9. What kind of house or apartment were you looking for?

1. How many bedrooms?

2. What kind of home? (apartment or house)

3. Were you looking for specific unit features (e.g., pet-friendly, yard, washer/dryer in-unit, parking, first floor, yard, AC, etc.)?

4. Rent amount or range?

10. Roughly how many apartments/houses did you seriously think about applying for during your most recent search before deciding to move to your current home?

1. What neighborhoods were they in?

2. Did you submit rental applications to any of those apartments/houses? [If yes]

   1. What neighborhoods were they in?

   2. Were any of these units from a list of apartments/homes that the [PHA] identified for you? [If so] How many did the program identify?

   3. What happened after you applied? Was your application accepted/denied? Did you decide not to move into the unit? Why?

   4. Did you want to move to any of these apartments/homes but could not for some reason? [If yes] What was the main reason you couldn’t move to the home you wanted?

Probes: Landlord did not accept application; other issues with landlord (didn’t return phone call/hung up/didn’t provide application/etc.); issue with the PHA’s lease up process (paperwork, rent amount, inspection); past eviction, foreclosure, or credit problems; location concerns (safety, transportation options, location relative to employment, schools, etc.); discriminatory actions based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, ethnicity, family status, or source of income; told unit was no longer available?

3. Were there any apartments/houses that you seriously considered that you did not submit a rental application for?

   1. [If yes] Why did you choose not to apply?

Probes: Location concerns (safety, transportation options, location relative to employment, schools, etc.); landlord interactions, discriminatory actions based on race, ethnicity, family status, or source of income?

11. Have there been other areas or neighborhoods you thought about moving to but didn’t choose for one reason or another.

    1. Why did you not choose one of those areas?

    2. Did you want to move to any of those neighborhoods but could not for some reason?

       1. [If yes] What was the main reason you couldn’t move to the neighborhood you wanted?

Probes: Location concerns (safety, transportation options, location relative to employment, schools, etc.); landlord interactions, discriminatory actions based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, ethnicity, family status, or source of income; issues related to particular housing units?

12. What was your experience explaining the voucher to landlords during your housing search?

1. [Treatment group] Tell me about your experience explaining [MOBILITY PROGRAM] to landlords.

13. Have you encountered any/any other challenges in finding a place you want to live that you haven’t talked about?

Probes: Issue with the PHA’s lease up process (paperwork, rent amount, inspection), eviction, foreclosure, credit problems, transportation, location of employment, landlord interactions, landlords don’t want families with children, landlords refuse to take voucher/Section 8, discriminatory actions based on race, ethnicity, family status, or landlord/property manager didn’t return phone call/hung up, said unit was no longer available, or didn’t provide application to submit, etc.?

HOUSING CHARACTERISTICS [All respondents]

1. I’m interested in what aspects of [this apartment/home/the apartment/home you moved into] work well for your family and children, and which don’t work so well. Can you tell me more about that?

1. What would make it better?

Probes: Cost, size, location of the apartment/home, neighbors?

2. Is there anything you wish you had known about this house/unit before you moved in? If yes, what was it?

OPPORTUNITY MOVE INTEREST [Treatment Respondents]

Next, I’d like to get your perspectives on the areas on the map that [MOBILITY PROGRAM] staff showed you that are labelled “Opportunity Areas.”

3. What does “Opportunity Area” mean to you? What features or amenities would opportunity areas include?

   1. How would you describe the benefits of moving your family to an Opportunity Area?

Probes: Housing features, transportation costs, community/social ties, identity, schools, safety?

2. What downsides, if any, have there been?

1. How did you feel about moving to an Opportunity Area when you started with [MOBILITY PROGRAM]?

Probes: Excited, worried, nervous?

1. Has your opinion about moving to an Opportunity Area changed since you leased up? [If yes] In what ways?

5. How did your children feel about moving to an Opportunity Area when you were doing your search? What excited them? What worried them?

1. [As applicable] Did it differ by age – teenagers compared with younger children or what grade they are in? By gender? In what ways?

Probes: Worries about losing friends; school changes; teachers; other routines/access to family?

PHA SERVICES RECEIVED [All Respondents]

1. [New admissions family] Tell me about the process of getting the voucher from [PHA]. What was easy? What was hard?

Probes: Paperwork/certification process, communicating with PHA staff, staff responsiveness and clarity of information?

1. What questions did you have after you got your voucher?

1. [Existing voucher family] Please tell me about the process of getting a voucher to move from the [PHA]. What was easy? What was hard?

Probes: Paperwork/certification process, communicating with PHA staff, staff responsiveness and clarity of information?

1. What questions did you have after you got your moving voucher?

1. Tell me about any information you received from [the PHA] about how to use your voucher.

1. What did they tell you about where you could use your voucher?

2. What did they tell you about how to go about searching for housing?

3. What information or resources did they provide, such as information about neighborhoods or a list of units, to help you search for housing?

4. Did they tell you how much you could afford in rent?

5. Did they tell you what to expect after you found a unit?

6. [Treatment group] Was the person who provided the information housing authority staff or the mobility services staff? Do you recall their name?

4. Since you leased up, have you had any interactions with these staff members? [If yes] What were these about?

MOBILITY SERVICES AVAILABLE [Treatment Respondents]

Let’s shift to discuss the [MOBILITY PROGRAM]. We are interested in learning about your interactions with staff and the services that were offered to you when you were searching for a new place to live and during the process of applying for and leasing up in a new rental apartment or house.

1. Tell me about your decision to join [MOBILITY PROGRAM]. What made you interested in enrolling?

2. What types of services or assistance have been available to you from [MOBILITY PROGRAM]? We’re interested in hearing about all of them, even if you have not used them. Later, I’ll ask you about the services you did use; for now, I’m interested in the variety of services you were offered.

By services we mean the types of help the program staff can provide to help your search, like one on one-meetings with a [MOBILITY PROGRAM] coach, group workshops, help finding apartments/houses in opportunity areas, financial assistance, and help communicating with landlords.

Probes: One-on-one meetings with a [MOBILITY PROGRAM] coach; mapping family systems; help identifying goals for the move; education about the program and opportunity areas; review of credit report; help preparing an application cover letter; group workshops; financial assistance?

3. Were you assigned to a particular staff member, or did you interact with various people at [MOBILITY PROGRAM]?

1. Tell me about how that worked. Who did you interact with the most?

2. What did you communicate about with [STAFF MEMBERS]?

4. How did you typically communicate with [MOBILITY PROGRAM] [STAFF MEMBER(S)]?

1. How often did you speak with them?

2. How do you stay in touch with them?

Probes: Scheduled meetings, in-person, informal calls/texts, who initiated contact?

3. What do you find most helpful in your interactions with them? Can you give an example?

4. What do you find not as helpful? Can you give an example?

5. Did your work with [STAFF MEMBER] help prepare you for your housing search? Tell me more about that.

6. Do you feel like [STAFF MEMBER] understood what you’re going through with the search process? Do they listen to your concerns?

7. How easy or difficult was it to work with [MOBILITY PROGRAM] to get the help you wanted? Tell me more about that.

1. [If challenging] Tell me more about a specific instance or example.

Probes: Communication with staff/reaching staff; availability of needed service(s); clarity on services available?

EXPERIENCE WITH comprehensive mobility-related services [Treatment Respondents]

I’d like to hear more about the types of help that you received from [MOBILITY PROGRAM] during your search and lease up process, and your experience with the program.

1. Which of the services that [MOBILITY PROGRAM] offers did you use?

1. How did you decide to use these services as opposed to the other ones?

2. Are there other services you think you will use at some point?

Probes: One-on-one meetings with a [MOBILITY PROGRAM] coach; mapping family systems; help identifying goals for the move; education about the program and opportunity areas; review of credit report; help preparing an application cover letter; group workshops; financial assistance?

2. Were the services you used from [MOBILITY PROGRAM] helpful during your housing search and lease up?

1. Which were the most useful? Tell me more about that.

Probes: Working one-on-one with a [MOBILITY PROGRAM] coach; help identifying available units, help negotiating with landlords, help assisting with and expediting PHA’s lease up process; financial assistance (application fees, security deposits, other financial assistance); navigating perceived discriminatory actions based on race, ethnicity, family status, or source of income, etc.)?

2. Which services were less useful? Can you give any examples of something that hasn’t turned out to be useful?

3. [If they mention getting financial assistance] What did you use the financial assistance for?

1. Did the program provide enough assistance to allow you to move to an Opportunity Area? [If not] What expenses do you have or anticipate that you would need help with to move to an Opportunity Area?

4. After working with the [MOBILITY PROGRAM], did you identify one or more neighborhoods that would work best for you and your family?

1. Which neighborhoods were these?

2. Did the coach’s suggestions affect your search? [If yes] How?

5. How did you eventually find the home you rented? Tell me more about that.

Probes: Unit was identified and referred by program staff, found on their own?

6. [Existing voucher families] Thinking back to other moves you have made with your voucher, did the help you received through [MOBILITY PROGRAM] make any difference compared with your previous housing search experiences? Tell me about that.

1. Tell me more about past experiences with landlords and using your voucher. Did the services you receive(d) through [MOBILITY PROGRAM] make a difference with your interactions with landlords?

7. What would make the program better? If you could improve the help [MOBILITY PROGRAM] provides people with vouchers searching for housing and leasing up, what changes would you make?

Probes: Make changes to types of services available, how services are delivered, length of services, staffing changes, etc.?

POST-MOVE SERVICES (if available) [Treatment Respondents]

1. Since you leased up, have you had any interactions with staff at [MOBILITY PROGRAM]? [If yes] What were these about?

2. I understand the mobility program also offers help after your move. Please tell me more about the help that has been available to you since your recent move.

1. What services or assistance have you used?

2. [If used services or assistance] How did you use some of these services.

3. [If used services or assistance] Was the help you received from [MOBILITY PROGRAM] after moving into your apartment/house useful? In what ways has it been useful [or not useful]?

Probes: Support for landlord disputes, conflicts with neighbors, housing quality concerns, second moves, voucher questions, complaints from neighbors, discriminatory actions by landlord or neighbors based on race, ethnicity, family status, etc.?

3. [Existing voucher families, if used post-move services] Did the help you received from [MOBILITY PROGRAM] after your move make any difference compared with your previous moves with a voucher? [If yes] How so? Tell me more about that.

Probes: Particular services, specific things said or done by coach/counselor?

4. Can you tell me about any help you were offered since you moved, but you did not end up using?

5. Is there anything that would make your experience after moving better? If you could get more help from [MOBILITY PROGRAM] after your move, what changes would you make?

Probes: Make changes to types of services, how services are delivered, frequency of contact with coach/counselor, etc.?

SATISFACTION WITH MOVE AND NEIGHBORHOOD [All Respondents]

1. Are you satisfied with how your most recent move turned out? Can you tell me more about that? Why or why not?

Probes: Satisfied with the neighborhood, with the house/apartment, with your landlord, with schools, with neighbors?

1. What role, if any, has the help you got from [MOBILITY PROGRAM] played in how satisfied you are?

2. Are your children satisfied with the move? Tell me more about that. Why or why not?

Probes: Satisfaction with new housing, neighborhood, school (if changed), distance from friends or school, distance from family, interaction with neighbors, new friends?

3. Do you think you will stay in this neighborhood?

1. [If no or unsure] Do you have an idea of where you would like to move next?

2. [If yes] What makes you want to move to [that/a different neighborhood]?

3. [If yes] What makes you want to stay in this neighborhood?

Probes: Distance/proximity from services or networks; sense of community; children’s satisfaction; satisfaction with schools, safety, accessibility of alternative options/difficulty moving to alternative neighborhood?

4. Did the racial or ethnic make-up of the neighborhood factor into your decision to move there?

5. Does the racial or ethnic make-up of the neighborhood factor into your interest in staying there?

4. [Treatment group] Do the services you have received play into your thoughts about staying in this neighborhood? How so?

1. How might [MOBILITY PROGRAM] help you stay in this neighborhood if you want to?

5. How does this neighborhood compare with the neighborhood you lived in before? What is different?

6. How does your current apartment/house compare with the last place you lived in? What is different?

REFLECTIONS ON MOBILITY PROGRAM [Treatment Respondents]

1. Overall, how satisfied are you with the help that you received during your housing search and since your move?

Probe: Why satisfied or dissatisfied?

2. Overall, how satisfied are you with [MOBILITY PROGRAM] [STAFF MEMBER(S)]? Tell me more about that.

CLOSING [All Respondents]

Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today.

1. Is there anything I did not ask about your moving experience or [MOBILITY PROGRAM] services that is important for us to understand?

2. Do you have any final questions for me about the study, or about the research team?

Thank you for your time. We will now turn off the recorder.

[Discuss compensation and collect future contacts list.]