Housing Choice Staff, Housing Choice Soluitions: PHA Staff's Refelctions and Suggestions on Boosting Choice and Mobility in the Housing Choice Voucher Program in St. Louis, MO

This paper aims to leverage practice experience as a Program Director for a housing mobility program within the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program at the Housing Authority of St. Louis County (HASLC) to conduct interviews with HASLC administrators about the goals of the HCV and Mobility Connection programs. With experience as a MSW in a non-traditional role at HASLC, I seek to uncover the mechanisms that impede families from exercising their housing choice to move into better-resourced neighborhoods with fewer hazards, in the staff’s own words.

Research questions include the likelihood of HCV households moving to neighborhoods of their choice, barriers to exercising housing choice, the realism of achieving housing mobility, and challenges in leasing up families in more resourced neighborhoods. Qualitative methods will be employed, including critical autoethnography, observations, content analysis, and interviews. Participants will include HCV team members and HASLC leadership, with standard and tailored interview questions for each.

A content analysis of the HASLC website and relevant administrative documents will be conducted. I will also provide a critical autoethnography reflecting on personal experiences as a social worker to realize housing mobility for families on the HCV program. Conclusions synthesize interview data, critical reflections, and content analysis to produce findings on staff perspectives on housing choice and mobility, proposed solutions, and policy recommendations.