The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is releasing more than $863 million to grantees to help low-income households with their heating and other home energy costs under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP helps low-income households supplement their home energy needs, such as heating costs in winter months and installation of insulation to make their homes more energy efficient.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is releasing funds for States, tribes, and territories through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) block grant. Designed to offset seasonal heating costs, the funds will help low-income families pay for other basic needs, such as food or medical costs. The funding is available for qualified families to help pay for the cost of heating their homes in the winter, but also to help pay for making homes more energy efficiency by helping families pay for insulation.

From the Center for the Study of Social Policy, this Financing Community Change Brief discusses the role of housing in fostering well-being for children and families, given the collapse of the housing market from the current economic recession. Research shows that living in a distressed neighborhood increases the effects of family poverty on individual educational achievement, economic prospects, and individual health because such areas often lack the supports, services, and opportunities to help provide a safety net for residents. Authors discuss how Federal housing policy has helped such families in the past and how it can support families in the future by fostering community development.

Nationwide, the Housing Choice Voucher Program serves nearly 2 million low-income households mostly in urban areas. From the Urban Institute, this review of the literature explores the evidence on neighborhood location outcomes for people receiving vouchers. Voucher recipients do not experience high poverty rate, but there are disparities by race/ethnicity as neighborhood quality is lower for nonwhite households compared to whites.

From the Urban Institute, this report analyzes data from the District of Columbia Frequent Users Service Enhancement Pilot Program, implemented by the Corporation for Supportive Housing. This program was designed to help disabled individuals leaving the city jail by providing housing and coordinating services. Authors use both qualitative and quantitative data to discuss the history, performance, and progress of the program. In the first year, the program was able to target around 12 frequent users to provide services.

The Urban Institute released a report that provides an overview of why housing choices matter for influencing better outcomes for families. HUD’s proposal for transforming federal rental assistance program is designed to expand subsidy recipients’ choice for where to live. Currently, low-income households living in public housing and in federally assisted projects lose their subsidies if they move. As it is difficult to receive a housing subsidy due to long wait periods, families are often reluctant to move away and lose the subsidy. Authors discuss implications for highly centralized, clustered areas of poverty, and offer considerations for why mobility is important.

The Choice Neighborhoods Initiative is an initiative through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to transform neighborhoods of extreme poverty and distressed housing into mixed-income communities. From the Urban Institute, this paper provides insight on how to effectively monitor the outcomes and measure success in this community and neighborhood change initiative. Authors provide a framework and logic model and performance measurement tools, including performance indicators.

This issue brief is from the Alliance to End Homelessness, and offers estimates on homelessness among the elderly. The Alliance estimates that the amount of elderly in homelessness will increase by 33 percent in the next 10 years and increase by over 50 percent in the next 40 years. Authors also provide an overview of the current affordable housing programs and their ability to handle such growth in elderly homelessness.

Given the current recession, many families are at risk for homelessness. This issue brief from the Urban Institute examines the current state of homelessness in the United States. Authors review how community responses to homelessness are changing and lessons learned about what works best in serving this population.

The Federal Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) Program provides eligible low-income families with an income-conditioned voucher that pays for a portion of rental costs in privately owned, affordable housing units. This paper extends prior research on the effectiveness of rental support programs in several ways. The analysis employs a unique longitudinal dataset created by combining administrative records maintained by the State of Wisconsin with census block group data. They use a propensity score matching approach coupled with difference-in-differences regression analysis to estimate the effect of housing voucher receipt on the employment and earnings of voucher recipients, and they track these effects for five years following voucher receipt.