The Section 811 Project Rental Assistance (PRA) program, administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), provides affordable rental housing for extremely low-income nonelderly people with disabilities. The program gives rental assistance funding to state housing finance agencies that work in partnership with state human services and Medicaid agencies to create community-based supportive housing. In funding years 2012 and 2013, HUD awarded PRA grants totaling $236 million in rental subsidies to 29 state housing finance agencies.

In 2015, Abt Global and BCT Partners began working together on the first phase of a two-phase evaluation of the PRA program.

This report presents case studies of 6 states’ early experiences implementing the Section 811 Project Rental Assistance program. California, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Washington were selected based on program design features, geographic distribution, and progress toward contracting and leasing units by the summer of 2015, when the evaluation’s design phase concluded. The overarching research questions include an assessment of the housing and service context for the design and implementation of the PRA program in the state, the state’s Olmstead plan or settlement agreement (if applicable) and plan to end homelessness, and the challenges and successes in the state of leasing up PRA units and providing services and supports.

Read the Program Evaluation Report.