Interviews – Federal, state, and local government

OMB Clearance Package

Study of Post-Disaster Outcomes of Renter Households and Rental Housing

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Community Development Block Grants - Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR)

Appendix I: Interview outreach language

DRAFT FOR HUD REVIEW

August 4, 2023

Submitted to:

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

451 Seventh Street, SW

Washington, DC 20401

GTR: Jagruti Rekhi

Office of Policy Development and Research

Affordable Housing Research and Technology Division

Department of Housing and Urban Development

P: 202-402-4512 E: [email protected]

Cooperative Agreement: H-21741CA

Appendix I. Interview outreach language

[To be disseminated via email]

Dear (interviewee name),

My name is [researcher name] and I work for the Urban Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan reseach organization in Washington, DC. Urban Institute is received funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to conduct a study of disaster recovery outcomes for rental housing, renter households, and affordable housing residents.

As part of this study, we are visiting communities across the United States that have been affected by disasters to interview stakeholders about disaster impacts to housing, rental markets, and renter populations, as well as views on the impacts and benefits of recovery investment programs such as HUD’s Community Development Block Grant—Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program. [Community name] is one of the sites we will be visiting to understand the impacts from [disaster name] on rental housing, and we will be in [community name] between [date] and [date] to conduct interviews.

As [title] with [agency or organization name], we would like to arrange a time to meet with you for a semi-structured, 60-minute interview to learn about how [disaster name] affected housing and affordable rental housing in [community]. We are especially interested in learning about your [personal, agency, or organization] involvement with or knowledge of recovery activities and programs, including the [project name] funded through HUD’s CDBG-DR program. We are also interested in your perceptions about housing and affordable rental housing recovery over time, as well as recommendations you might offer to HUD and other federal disaster recovery programs to improve housing and rental housing recovery in communities that are affected by disasters like [disaster name].

Participation is entirely voluntary and you may choose to skip questions or terminate the interview at any point. No incentives are offered for your participation. Urban Institute researchers have signed a confidentiality pledge and accordingly will protect your identity and will not release your name or any other identifying information beyond the research team. In any reports or other work products, your name and identifying information will not be included, and we will keep all notes and audio recordings associated with interviews on a secure, password-protected server at Urban Institute. No hard copy materials will be used for data or recordkeeping associated with this interview.

There are no direct benefits to your participation other than the knowledge that you are contributing to research that will inform future program planning at HUD to reduce negative impacts on rental housing and renter populations in communities affected by disasters. If you choose to participate, we strongly recommend that we meet at location that is agreeable to you and outside the eye or earshot of non-participants.

Please let me know if you would like more information about the study or if you have any other questions. If you would like to participate, I will send along some dates and time options to select from during out site visit and we can put a time on the calendar. If you believe another colleague may be better positioned to discuss the [project/activity] with us, we appreciate the referral—thank you.

We are looking forward to hearing from you and thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

[Researcher name]