Outreach materials for phone/virtual interviews with CoCs and non-CoC partner organization staff

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OMB Number: XXXX-XXXX

EXPIRATION DATE : XX/XX/20XX

Outreach Materials for Phone/Virtual Interviews with CoCs and Non-CoC Partner Organization Staff

EHV Evaluation Letter of Support from HUD to CoC/partner

Dear [FIRSTNAME LASTNAME], 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently began a study to better understand the implementation and outcomes of the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) Program. The study includes both a national web-based survey with all PHAs that received EHVs and their Continuum of Care (CoC) partners. Additionally, it includes follow-up telephone interviews with a subset of PHAs and partners in 25 communities. Please see the attached study description for more detail regarding the Evaluation of the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) Program. HUD has contracted with Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) and its partner, Abt Global, to conduct this research.  

[CoC/partner name] is being invited to participate in a 60-minute follow-up telephone interview. Your participation is very important as we have identified 25 communities, including yours, that we believe will help us better understand the EHV program’s implementation. The discussion will cover various programmatic choices that were made, as well as challenges and successes in implementating the program.  

The research team will provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. The research team will provide closed captioning and/or a sign language interpreter for anyone requesting such accommodations. HUD and the research team will use translation services as needed for individuals with Limited English Proficiency. If you require information to be presented in an accessible format, reasonable accommodations, or language assistance to participate in this study, please contact [INSERT STAFF CONTACT], the [TITLE/ROLE], by phone at (XXX) XXX-XXXX or by email at [INSERT EMAIL ADDRESS].

[CoC/partner name’s] participation is important to this study, and we thank you in advance for your consideration and cooperation. A member of the study team will follow-up with you via email in the coming days. If you have any questions about the study, please contact the HUD project officer ([email protected]) or the study’s project director ([email protected]).

Sincerely, 

[HUD staff name]

HUD and the research team welcome and are prepared to receive calls from individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as individuals with speech or communication disabilities. You can access free telephone and video relay services by calling 711.

EHV Initial Recruitment Email to CoC/Partner from SPR

Dear [CoC/Other Partner Contact],

I am writing to invite [name of organization] to participate in a 60-minute interview for the Evaluation of Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) Program. My company, Social Policy Research Associates (SPR), and our partner, Abt Global, (“the research team”) are conducting this study under a contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). A description of the study and a letter of support from HUD are attached to this email.

As part of this study, we fielded a web-survey with every CoC and PHA that received an EHV allocation. [If this is to a CoC] Thank you for your organization’s participation in that survey, which you submitted on xx/xx/xx. Your organization is a partner in [one/two/three] of the 25 communities that have been selected to participate in a follow up phone interview to ask additional questions about your program and deepen our understanding of EHV implementation. [If only one of the CoC’s partner PHAs was selected for an interview] We have also invited your partner, [PHA name] to participate in a similar interview.

[If two or more of the CoCs’ partner PHAs were selected for an interview ] Both [PHA name 1] and [PHA name 2] [add additional PHAs if needed] have been invited to participate in an interview. Since your organization partnered with [both/all] of them, we would like to include your thoughts about [both/all] of these EHV programs. We will give you the choice of scheduling two separate interviews or one longer interview to discuss [both/all] partnerships together.

Overall, the study has four major objectives:

1. Document how PHAs and CoCs structured and implemented their EHV programs, including the extent to which each of the four populations eligible for EHVs were served by the program and how the CoC prioritized EHV receipt among people currently or recently experiencing homelessness;

2. Learn how PHAs applied administrative fees and chose among and implemented alternative program features and gaining the perspective of PHAs regarding their value;

3. Detail the extent to which PHAs and CoCs considered and incorporated equity principles and approaches into their EHV programs, including the prioritization of households who most needed housing and incorporating people with lived experience of homelessness to inform the CoC’s prioritization strategy; and

4. Describe the households that were referred to the PHAs and issued EHVs and their success rates and compare them and their success rates to households using HCVs.

[If the partner is a CoC] During the interview, we will go into greater depth on the topics covered in the survey. [If the partner is not a CoC] During the interview, we will discuss decisions made around your partnership with the PHA, the program’s target population, the referral process, and services. We would like to include 1-2 staff members from your organization who were most involved with planning and implementing the EHV program so that we can discuss how your PHA approached various decisions.

We will provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. We will provide closed captioning and/or a sign language interpreter for anyone requesting such accommodations. We will use translation services as needed for individuals with Limited English Proficiency. If you require information to be presented in an accessible format, reasonable accommodations, or language assistance to participate in this study, please respond to this email with your requested accomodations or contact [INSERT STAFF CONTACT], the [TITLE/ROLE], by phone at (XXX) XXX-XXXX or by email at [INSERT EMAIL ADDRESS].

If you are willing to participate, please let us know who will attend and which of the following days and times work best for this call. [If the CoC will be discussing more than one partnership] Also, please indicate whether you would like to have one 90-minute call discussing both EHV partnership or two separate, 60-mintue calls, each focused on one EHV program. Note that participation is voluntary and we will not link names to any comments provided.

[RECRUITER TO LIST SEVERAL DAYS/TIMES THAT WORK FOR THEM, INCLUDING THE TIME ZONE]

Thank you in advance for your consideration. We look forward to talking with you and hope you will participate in this very important study activity. If you would like to reach out to me sooner, please feel free to contact me at [phone number] or via email.

Sincerely,

[Staff name]

We welcome and are prepared to receive calls from individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as individuals with speech or communication disabilities. You can access free telephone and video relay services by calling 711.

EHV Study Description

The Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program allocated EHVs to 611 Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) and their Continuums of Care (CoC) or other organization partners. It has provided about 70,000 new housing vouchers for qualifying individuals or families including those who are: 1) homeless; 2) at risk of homelessness; 3) fleeing, or attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking or human trafficking; or 4) recently homeless and for whom providing rental assistance would prevent the family’s homelessness or having high risk of housing instability. In addition to designating vouchers for these four target populations, the EHV program included several enhancements, such as required housing search assistance and additional incentives for landlords, that responded to current challenges identified in operating the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) contracted with Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) and Abt Global (“the research team”) to conduct a study of the EHV program. The goal of the study is to provide a broad overview of the EHV program nationally and to inform future HUD efforts to target vouchers towards households that are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The study will also help HUD assess the success of several novel components: the partnerships between PHAs and CoCs, enhanced administrative fees for PHAs, an aggressive lease-up timeline, and various waivers and alternative requirements.

More specifically, the four study objectives are as follows:

1. Document how PHAs and CoCs structured and implemented their EHV programs, including the extent to which each of the four populations eligible for EHVs were served by the program and how the CoC prioritized EHV receipt among people currently or recently experiencing homelessness;

2. Learn how PHAs applied administrative fees and chose among and implemented alternative program features and gaining the perspective of PHAs regarding their value;

3. Detail the extent to which PHAs and CoCs considered and incorporated equity principles and approaches into their EHV programs, including the prioritization of households who most needed housing and incorporating people with lived experience of homelessness to inform the CoC’s prioritization strategy; and

4. Describe the households that were referred to the PHAs and issued EHVs and their success rates and compare them and their success rates to households using HCVs.

The research team will collect different types of data to respond to HUD’s research questions and achieve the objectives, including:

1. A comprehensive review of multiple HUD administrative and publicly available data sets;

2. A nationwide web-survey fielded to all PHAs that received EHVs and their CoC partners; and

3. Follow-up telephone interviews with staff from PHAs and CoCs or other partners who managed EHV programs in 25 communities to gather additional, deeper knowledge of implementation experiences.

The research team will report on key findings in a final report with the goal of informing future programs that provide rental assistance to people experiencing homelessness, as well as potential reforms to the ongoing HCV program.

For questions or concerns about the study please contact Anne Paprocki, SPR’s Project Director, by email at [email protected] or by phone at (510) 768-8499 or Jeffrey Chen, HUD’s Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), by email at [email protected] or by phone at (212) 542-7422.

PRA Burden Statement: The public reporting burden for this collection of information relating to the Evaluation of Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) Program is estimated to average 15 minutes per respondent for phone and virtual interviews with CoC and non-CoC partner organization staff. These burden estimates include the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering, and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Comments regarding the accuracy of this burden estimate and any suggestions for reducing this burden can be sent to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of the Chief Data Officer, R, 451 7th St SW, Room 8210, Washington, DC 20410-5000 or email: [email protected]. Do not send completed forms to this address. This agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless the collection displays a valid OMB control number. HUD collects this information to examine the implementation and outcomes associated with the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program, which was created under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. HUD may use this information to help guide any future emergency housing voucher programs and the data could also inform possible changes to the HCV program to serve households who are experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness. This information is voluntary.  This information collected will be held confidential pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552 (Freedom of Information Act), 5 U.S.C 552a (Privacy Act of 1974), and OMB Circular No. A-130.