Study Details | Pathways to Work

6129-Study of Denver Hous

Study quality: Low

Low

Reason for the rating: This study received a low study quality rating because it is a quasi-experimental design that does not adjust estimated impacts for potentially important differences between the intervention and comparison groups.

Intervention: Denver Housing Authority's (DHA's) Home Ownership Program (HOP) Home Buyers Club

Population and employment barriers:

Public Benefits Recipients (Public benefits recipients)

Services provided:

Case management, Education and Training, Financial education, Performance- or behavior-based financial incentives, Tuition assistance/financial aid

Setting: Urban only

Study design

Design:

Quasi-experimental design

Study group formation:

Households with low incomes receiving DHA or Housing Choice Voucher subsidies enrolled in the program between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2009. In total, 1,505 residents enrolled in HOP. Evaluators identified intervention participants as those who participated in HOP at a high intensity, defined as reaching the second stage of program services provided as part of the Home Buyers Club. The possible comparison group included the remaining participants who enrolled in the program but did not reach the second stage of HOP services. Intervention and possible comparison group participants were matched based on individual characteristics. Among residents with earnings data at program exit (234 in the intervention group and 1,045 in the possible comparison group), 234 comparison group members were selected as matches for the 234 intervention group participants.

Time period of study:

Evaluators estimated impacts for individuals who enrolled in HOP between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2009.

Pathways only reports results from studies with a study quality rating of high or moderate.

Sample characteristics

Age

Mean age

34 years

Sex

Female	87%
Male	13%

Participant race and ethnicity

Hispanic or Latino of any race

42%

The race and ethnicity categories may sum to more than 100 percent if the authors reported race and ethnicity separately; in these cases, we report the category White, rather than White, not Hispanic.

Participant employment and public benefit status

Public benefits recipients	100%
Had low incomes	100%

Specific employment barriers

Had a disability

Intervention implementation

Implementing organization:

Denver Housing Authority

Intervention services:

Households with low incomes receiving DHA or Housing Choice Voucher subsidies volunteered to participate in HOP, which provided a range of case management, education, and supportive services to build families' financial assets, promote resident economic self-sufficiency, and increase rates of home ownership. HOP's services built on those provided both as part of DHA's Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) and Resident Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (ROSS) programs. These programs provided participating residents with financial assessments, credit monitoring and repair, financial management counseling, financial literacy classes, matched escrow accounts, subsidized education, work-readiness activities, and supportive services. HOP services complemented and extended these services in two stages. In the first stage, HOP worked alongside the FSS and ROSS programs to provide case management and help households reduce debt, manage credit, find or retain employment, and increase savings. Once case managers believed residents had built enough assets to purchase a home within one year, participants progressed to the second stage, which provided training and services to help residents purchase a home through a Home Buyers Club. Home Buyers Club services included homeownership counseling, frequent case management contacts, training on how to find and purchase a home, and access to financial supports, including low mortgage interest rates, fee discounts, and cost assistance during the home-buying process. Unlike the FSS and ROSS programs that capped service receipt at five years, HOP participants could continue receiving services were not time-limited, meaning that people could remain in the program until they bought a home as long as they continued to receive housing subsidies. The study authors defined the intervention group as HOP participants who eventually joined the Home Buyers Club and received the second stage of HOP services.

Mandatory services:

None

Comparison services:

The comparison group consisted of HOP participants who did not participate in the Home Buyers Club and were considered as receiving low or moderate-intensity HOP services. This included those who were eligible to participate in HOP but never enrolled, those who participated in HOP for less than 12 months, and those who participated for more than 12 months but did not graduate to the Home Buyers Club phase of the program. Comparison group participants could receive all HOP services, excluding those associated with the Home Buyers Club. This included case management (at a lesser intensity than Home Buyers Club participants), financial assessments, credit monitoring and repair, financial management counseling, financial literacy classes, matched escrow accounts, subsidized education, work-readiness activities, and supportive services.

Study publications

Santiago, Anna Maria, George C. Galster, and Richard John Smith (2017). Evaluating the impacts of an enhanced family self-sufficiency program, Housing Policy Debate 27(5): 772-788.

View the glossary for more information about these and other terms used on this page.

The Pathways Clearinghouse refers to interventions by the names used in study reports or manuscripts. Some intervention names may use language that is not consistent with our style guide, preferences, or the terminology we use to describe populations.

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Study of Denver Housing Authority's (DHA's) Home Ownership Program (HOP) Home Buyers Club