Evaluation report
Insights From Developmental and Formative Evaluations: Developing and Implementing a Limited-Term Housing Mobility Program.
Jee Young Lee, Jason Reece, Rachel Garshick Kleit ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This paper describes the development and pilot implementation of the Families Flourish housing mobility program in the United States, designed to increase affordable housing access for low-income families. Using developmental and formative evaluation methods, the program engaged stakeholders to understand the needs of families struggling to secure adequate housing. Early findings suggest that improved housing security was associated with better physical and mental health outcomes for parents and children, as well as gains in employment, education, and income.
Key points
- The program addresses the gap between millions of households qualifying for Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs) and the limited supply available
- Enhanced housing security was associated with improvements in physical and mental health for parents and their children
- A more stable and safe neighborhood environment was associated with gains in employment, education, and income
- Developmental evaluation required extensive collaboration with stakeholders, partners, and the project team
- The evaluator's communication and collaboration skills were essential to the methodology
Limitations
The document does not provide specific quantitative outcome data, effect sizes, or details about the comparison group or control conditions. It is unclear whether the associations described are causal or correlational, and there is limited information on the duration of follow-up or long-term sustainability of outcomes.
Abstract
This paper aims to demonstrate how evaluation methods can inform the development of a program, using the example of a novel housing mobility program. The limited availability of Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs) and other affordable housing assistance restricts the ability to address US national housing needs; millions more households qualify for HCVs than receive them. Those with HCVs encounter challenges in using vouchers in so-called high-opportunity areas. To address the dearth of HCVs and difficulty using them, a collaboration between faculty at Ohio State University and the community developed a new housing mobility program to increase the affordable housing supply, engaging stakeholders to understand the needs of low-income renters who are less likely to obtain an HCV. This paper outlines the Families Flourish program's development using both developmental and formative evaluations, examining the progress of the implementation and immediate outcomes using mixed methods. The developmental evaluation process required collaboration with a wide variety of stakeholders, partners, and the project team. According to the formative evaluation of the pilot program, participants' experiences suggested that enhanced housing security was associated with improvements in physical and mental health for parents and their children, and that a more stable and safe neighborhood environment was similarly associated with gains in employment, education, and income. Throughout the process of evaluation, particularly the developmental evaluation, the evaluator's communication and collaboration skills were essential to the methodology. The study concludes with lessons learned, as well as recommendations for policy and directions for future research.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Families Flourish limited-term housing mobility program providing enhanced housing access and support
- Population
- Low-income families with children, particularly those less likely to obtain Housing Choice Vouchers
Key finding
Enhanced housing security was associated with improvements in physical and mental health for parents and their children