Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA) is one of twenty-nine Moving to Work (MTW) Agencies. The legislation that created the MTW program, Section 204 of the Omnibus Consolidated Rescissions and Appropriations Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-34), created a demonstration in public policy that takes an extaordinarily progressive approach to low-income households.

The MTW program frees Housing Authorities from the "cookie-cutter" regulatory framework that had become administratively exhausting over the years, and replaces it with a mandate that each MTW site design its programs to best meet the needs of their specific communities. This new, community-focused program has the effect of fostering policy innovation and creativity at the local level while preserving the mission of assisting low-income families or individuals.

In 1999, after two years of negotiation, HUD executed MTW agreements with the original group of MTW agencies, of which CHA was a proud member. The MTW Agreements were extremely powerful documents in that they "superceded" the terms and conditions of Annual Contributions Contracts, most provisions of the 1937 Housing Act and related HUD requirements and regulations.  CHA executed a new, ten year MTW Agreement with HUD in 2009.

In the MTW Agreement, HUD provides CHA broad authorization to redesign, invent and create new policies and procedures necessary to implement the Agency's activities as permitted in the MTW agreement. The Authorizations include a thorough cataloging of the program areas where CHA was granted flexibility. In addition to the regulatory and programmatic flexibility authorized. CHA's Agreement permits the agency to combine its federal operating subsidies for the public housing and voucher programs together with its annual capital grant into one, "MTW block grant". Taken as a whole CHA's MTW Agreement, and those of the other initial MTW sites, is...revolutionary. 

Today, MTW touches every aspect of CHA's day-to-day operations and informs all of our long-term plans for keeping Cambridge a city anyone regardless of income, age or disability can call home.