Capitated Payment Formulas for Public Housing

摘要

The report studies the feasibility of replacing the current method of providingFederal subsidies to public housing agencies (PHAs) with a capitated payment formula similar in concept to that used in the health care field. Three simplified capitated payment formulas were developed. This first formula reallocates the current pool of subsidies solely on the basis of the number of households served; the second also makes adjustments for differences in local cost conditions. These schemes would result in a shift of resources away from larger PHAs toward medium and small agencies. The third capitated payment formula uses the local fair market rent (FMR) as the basis of an independent estimate of public housing costs that would require PHAs to operate and maintain decent rental housing at a cost comparable to that needed by private landlords. The FMR-based payment formula would make vacancy rates, instead of PHA size, the primary determinant of how individual PHAs fare under a capitated system.