Recently, the Poverty & Race Research Action Council, PRRAC, published a national review of housing mobility programs. Their report, titled “Housing Mobility Programs in the U.S. 2020,” is focused on multiple programs across the U.S. concentrated on enabling low income people to live in higher opportunity neighborhoods. Families Flourish is among the 24 existing and emerging programs reviewed in the report.
The purpose of housing mobility programs, such as Families Flourish, is to give low income families access to better housing in a number of ways. The main focus of a mobility program is moving families to eligible higher opportunity areas in the region the program serves. Depending on the program, these areas may be defined by poverty rate, school performance, crime rate, etc. Rent subsidy, landlord development/recruitment, mobility counseling and housing search assistance are some of the tools frequently used to help families be successful. Several programs, such as our own, also provide counseling or coaching to participating families in areas such as finances, employment, health and wellness, and parenting with the aim of helping families achieve long term success with their transition.
Based in Washington, D.C., PRRAC has been dedicated to addressing structural inequality and disrupting systems that disadvantage low income people of color through promoting research based advocacy strategies since its founding in 1989. The three main areas of PRRAC’s policy focus are fair housing, education, and environmental justice.
PRRAC’s 2020 Housing Mobility Report can be found on their website here:
https://prrac.org/housing-mobility-program-in-the-us-2020/
