Research Study Enrollment

Information sessions

Attend an upcoming info session to see if the program is a good fit for you.

To have a chance to receive the services offered through the Community Choice Demonstration, you must first enroll in the Community Choice Demonstration Research Study. Your household is eligible to enroll in the study if you have a Housing Choice Voucher with Metro HRA or Minneapolis Public Housing Authority; at least one child aged 17 or under lives in your household; and the head of household and the parent/guardian of at least one child (if different than the head of household) consents at least one child to be part of the research study.

Some of families from the current Metro HRA Housing Choice Voucher waitlist are also being invited to participate in the Demonstration. You will know if you are invited from the HCV waitlist to join the research study because we will contact you by mailed letter, email, and phone.

Participation in the study is completely voluntary and your voucher or place on the waitlist will not be affected if you chose not to enroll. However, to have a chance of being offered services under the Demonstration, you must agree to participate in the research study.

Informational videos

To help you determine if participating in the Community Choice Demonstration Research Study is right for your family, watch the following informational videos that describe in detail what is expected of you when enrolling in the study, and the services you may be eligible for if you are randomly selected to receive services through the Community Choice Demonstration.

Watch a brief overview about the Community Choice Demonstration from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development:

Watch an in-depth informational video with specifics about Metro HRA's Community Choice Demonstration program:

Schedule a research study enrollment meeting

After you view the video above, if you still have questions or are ready to enroll, set up a meeting using the link in the letter or email that was sent to you. If you did not receive a letter and have questions or are interested in enrolling, contact us at [email protected] or 651-602-1401.

The head of household AND the parent/guardian of at least one child that lives in your household (if different than the head of household) should attend the enrollment meeting. You are welcome to bring your child(ren) to the meeting, but childcare is not provided.

Length: Up to two hours

Format: Via Zoom or in person at one of four locations in the Twin Cities.

  • You will be asked to answer some questions about yourself and your family such as the names and ages of the people living with you.
  • Staff will review a form with you that explains more about the study and the requirements if you decide to participate and ask you to indicate whether you agree to participate in the study.
  • You will be asked to provide consent for the participation of at least one child aged 17 or under in the study.  
  • Staff will ask you some additional questions about your child(ren)’s current school experiences and health.
  • You will be asked to fill out a survey that will ask about your housing situation, your thoughts on moving, your education and employment status, and your health.
  • You will receive a $25 gift card for filling out the survey.

At the end of the meeting, if you choose to enroll, you will be assigned to one of two groups: The first group will be not receive the services offered through the Community Choice Demonstration. The second group will be offered a set of additional services offered through the Community Choice Demonstration that will assist them in searching for and moving to housing in specific areas, called Opportunity Areas.

This assignment will be random, like pulling names from a hat, to make sure that each family that participates has an equal chance of being placed in either group. Groups will not be decided by any person; rather, they will be randomly determined by a computer.

If you are not selected to receive the services offered through the Community Choice Demonstration, nothing changes about your current participant in the Housing Choice Voucher program. You will still have your voucher and you can still move to a community of your choosing, but you will not have access the additional services offered through the Community Choice Demonstration.

If you are selected to receive services offered through the Community Choice Demonstration, you will be assigned a Mobility Coordinator who will reach out within a week to introduce themselves and begin working with you on planning for a move to an Opportunity Area. Learn more about the services available to you through the Community Choice Demonstration.

Regardless of which group you are assigned, you may be asked to participate in future surveys or interviews as researchers study the impacts of the services provided under the Community Choice Demonstration. Your participation in those future study activities is voluntary. You will continue to be part of the research study even if you decide not to participate in those future study activities.

To learn about the long-term effects of being offered these services and supports, researchers may collect data about you and your children from different sources for several years.

The research study will allow for a better understanding of how to support families with a Housing Choice Voucher in finding housing in Opportunity Areas. Researchers will use information collected from the study to measure whether children in households that receive services and move to new neighborhoods do better in school and earn more money later in life. The research study will also measure how well these services help adults in the household. This research may help the government decide whether to offer these services to more families in the future.

Contact us

For more information about what it means to enroll in the study or to schedule a research study enrollment meeting, contact [email protected] or 651-602-1401.