U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Evidence Highlight
Excelling at Criterion 11: Community Engagement
HUD has provided an important example of how to democratize the federal evidence ecosystem. In spring 2023, HUD issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) focused on supporting community-based research designed to address homelessness. “Community-based research” is defined by HUD in the NOFO as “an approach that meaningfully engages the community that is the subject of the research, including community groups and people with lived experience.”
The Impact
This definition explicitly aligns with the goal of broadening the set of voices making central contributions to the evidence generated from data-based or evaluative activities funded by federal agencies.
This approach to allocating HUD funding has other benefits, too: Beyond extending knowledge of how to address homelessness, it also will build and expand capacity for pursuing community-engaged research methods at colleges and universities and will strengthen partnerships between local nonprofit organizations and such higher education institutions. These positive ripple effects should diversify inputs to local and state knowledge chains while informing how HUD pursues its support of evidence-building among grantees in the future.
About U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
HUD first featured in the Federal Standard of Excellence in 2015. Its FY 2024 Discretionary Budget was $67.151 billion, the second-largest such budget of the 11 agencies in the 2024 Federal Standard of Excellence.
Leading Example
11.
Community Engagement
HUD proactively engages residents and community partners — especially from historically underserved communities — to inform policy development and program design. Through practices like public comment periods, hearings, and direct dialogue with these groups, HUD ensures community voices shape policy. HUD’s Learning Agenda highlights the value of stakeholder feedback, based on listening sessions with people directly affected by its programs. The team overseeing this agenda worked closely with HUD’s Equity Leadership Committee to align it with the agency’s equity goals. HUD’s Program Evaluation Policy further emphasizes stakeholder input, especially from those with lived experiences, to guide research priorities, initiatives and program evaluations. The policy defines “engagement” as actively including perspectives from participants, grantees and underserved populations in research, ranging from initial input to full co-creation of research elements. In 2023, HUD issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) supporting community-based research on homelessness, which HUD defines as research that meaningfully includes the community being studied, ensuring diverse voices contribute to evidence generated by federally funded evaluations. In spring 2023, HUD issued a NOFO focused on supporting community-based research designed to address homelessness. “Community-based research” is defined by HUD in the NOFO as “an approach that meaningfully engages the community that is the subject of the research, including community groups and people with lived experience.” This definition explicitly aligns with the goal of broadening the set of voices making central contributions to the evidence generated from data-based or evaluative activities funded by federal agencies. Read more on p. 33 of The Power of Evidence to Drive America’s Progress.
Promising Examples
04.
Evaluation Policy, Plan and Learning Agenda
06.
Strengthen State and Local Capacity
10.
Results-Driven Contracting
12.