ROSS-SC Evaluation

In 2013, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) expressed the need for an evaluation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Resident Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency – Service Coordinator (ROSS-SC) program in a published report which identified “significant gaps in the ROSS-SC grant program, specifically the number of families that participate, number and type of self-sufficiency outcomes achieved, the lack of formal reporting guidance, and the lack of a reporting tool that can provide ‘easily or reliably aggregated’ data on the program” (GAO, pg. 17). In addition, HUD implemented ROSS-SC program changes in FY 2014 in order to improve grantee applications and reporting, as well as the tracking and measurement of participant outcomes. Congress requested an evaluation of the ROSS-SC program in the Conference Report accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY 2014 (Public Law 113-76), which appropriated $40,000,000 for the transformation initiative. Of the amount, not less than $15,000,000 is for research, demonstrations and evaluations, which should be sufficient to fund the following activities: understanding rapid re-housing models and outcomes for homeless; a seniors and supportive housing program demonstration; a seniors and services demonstration evaluation; a Section 811 project rental assistance demonstration; a ROSS-SC evaluation; a small area fair market rent study; a Jobs-Plus evaluation; a Moving to Work evaluation; and a Rental Assistance Demonstration evaluation. HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) has contracted with the Urban Institute to conduct an evaluation of the ROSS-SC program. During the Period of Performance, the Urban Institute and its subcontractor EJP Consulting will perform and report on the following tasks: 1. Assess changes in program processes and reporting since changes were made to the program’s logic model in FY 2014, 2. Examine the breadth and depth of ROSS-SC program implementation by current service coordinators across all grantee types, and 3. Analyze current reporting requirements and performance metrics to improve future program outcome evaluations.

The latest form for ROSS-SC Evaluation expires 2021-04-30 and can be found here.

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Federal Enterprise Architecture: Community and Social Services - Community and Regional Development