Creating Moves to Opportunity (CMTO): Reducing Barriers to High-Opportunity Neighborhoods Through Navigator Support

• In Event: Housing Mobility Programs for Families with Housing Choice Vouchers: Impact Findings

Abstract

Despite the potential of the Housing Choice Voucher program to provide residential choice for low-income households, many voucher tenants reside in moderate- to high-poverty, racially segregated neighborhoods. The Creating Moves to Opportunity (CMTO) program in Seattle and King County, WA, tested whether reducing barriers in the housing search process could significantly increase moves to high-opportunity neighborhoods among voucher recipients.

Using a two-phase randomized controlled trial, CMTO bundled information about high-opportunity neighborhoods with financial support and high-touch, personalized housing search assistance delivered by navigators. In the first phase, this full-service intervention increased the rate of opportunity moves from 15.4% in the control group to 53.2% in the treatment group. These impacts were sustained over time: three years post-move, 50.1% of treatment group families were residing in a high-opportunity neighborhood. The program also generated high levels of neighborhood satisfaction without requiring trade-offs in housing quality.

In the second phase, CMTO experimentally unbundled the intervention to isolate the mechanisms contributing to the program's impact. While treatments offering only financial and informational support or reduced support services led to modest increases in opportunity moves (8.9–13.8 percentage point increases), the full customized service model produced a similar rate of moves to high-opportunity neighborhoods as for the treatment families in phase one, with 53.3% of families moving (a 40.8 percentage point increase compared to the control group). This points to the centrality of high-touch, customized support in overcoming housing search constraints.

Qualitative in-depth interviews with a sub-sample of participating families further illuminated mechanisms contributing to the program’s impact. Families emphasized the value of emotional support, trust-building, and practical help in navigating the voucher program and private rental market. Dedicated navigators addressed psychological and logistical barriers—boosting confidence, preparing rental documents, and brokering relationships with landlords. These high-quality services reduced the administrative burdens that often hinder families' ability to act on their housing preferences and helped increase families’ expectations for their housing searches. Navigators overcame a key challenge voucher recipients typically encounter through effectively developing relationships with landlords.

Together, the findings from the CMTO intervention show that many low-income families do not lack the desire to move to higher-opportunity areas but rather face barriers that constrain their choices. High-touch, customized services like those provided by CMTO navigators can substantially improve neighborhood outcomes—offering scalable lessons for policies and programs to increase residential mobility and economic opportunity for low-income families.

Author

• Jacqueline Groccia, Johns Hopkins University
  Presenting Author