Stoneleigh Fellow Vincent Reina has co-authored a new research brief on the early housing security outcomes from PHLHousing+, a direct-to-tenant, cash rental assistance program that provides monthly cash payments to 301 low-income families with children.
PHLHousing+ is a direct-to-tenant, cash rental assistance program that began in Fall 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The program provides monthly cash payments to 301 low-income families with children over nearly four years, ending in June 2026. Much like the in-kind rental subsidy provided by the national Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, administered locally by the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA), PHLHousing+ payments are designed to eliminate housing cost burden by ensuring that households pay no more than 30% of their income on housing. However, unlike traditional housing vouchers in which a household must find a willing landlord who receives payments from the housing authority, PHLHousing+ offers the rental assistance payments directly to the household with no restrictions on how it is spent.
