Housing Grants Study 2024
About the Study
(PDF, 3MB)From mid-2022 through 2023, at the direction of the County Board, the Department of Human Services (DHS) conducted a holistic Housing Grants study(PDF, 3MB) to analyze the current program, its legislative origins, and to identify potential gaps in affordable housing needs. The effort helped determine what actions the Housing Grants program could take moving forward, and how changes to the program might inform the County's current and future budget cycles.
Methodology
The study employed a mixed-methods approach, conducting a total of nine 90-minute focus groups between June 22-29 and August 3, 2022.
The focus group phase also involved the participation of 27 stakeholders representing 21 organizations in four distinct focus groups, each tailored to specific stakeholder types: commissions and advisory groups, housing-focused organizations, "safety net" nonprofits, and advocacy organizations.
The second phase of the methodology encompassed Pierrepont Consulting and Analytics LLC, a part of the Reingold Team, for which they conducted a comprehensive telephone interview study on behalf of the Arlington County Housing Grants Program. The research involved 108 interviews, carried out by Dynata LLC, a Utah-based company recognized as the world's largest first-party data platform. The interviews were conducted from August 26 to September 24, 2022, with U.S.-based interviewers reaching out to participants, past participants, and applicants of the Housing Grants Program.
As a follow-up to these external engagement efforts, in January 2023, eight internal informational interviews were conducted virtually with 52 Arlington County staff from the Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development, as well as the following DHS Divisions: Economic Independence, Finance and Information Systems, Aging and Disability Services, Child and Family Services, Behavioral Health, and Public Health. These conversations covered topics such as the application process and renewals, maximum allowable rents, eligibility criteria, affordable housing challenges, and program operations. Each group was asked an array of questions specific to their areas of expertise, job responsibilities, and how they generally interact with the Housing Grants program.
Findings & Recommendations
After reviewing all of the feedback received from current/past participants, past applicants, stakeholders, and staff, DHS staff developed recommendations on potential changes to the Housing Grants program and their corresponding financial impact. These recommendations can be bucketed into four categories: recommendations related to eligibility criteria, recommendations related to program requirements, recommendations related to staffing, and recommendations related to program operations. Within each category, staff further differentiated among recommendations based on priority level: phase 1, phase 2, and phase 3.