A University of Pennsylvania student conducted parallel research on a municipal cash assistance pilot and Landlord Tenant Court procedures, focusing on factors that bear on tenant stability and court attendance and on how those factors intersect with managed rental operations.
Event and Research Focus
Stefan Hatch, a fourth-year student, worked on evaluation of Philadelphia’s monthly cash assistance pilot, PHLHousing+, and on a separate urban study of Landlord Tenant Court attendance. As reported by Penn Today, Hatch added social capital questions to the program’s monthly surveys of participants and collaborated with faculty evaluating the pilot by the university and partners, linking student research to program monitoring via Hatch’s research on housing instability.
Court Attendance and Scheduling
For his urban studies project, Hatch examined whether changing the time of day for trials in Landlord Tenant Court affected no-show rates. Attendance at scheduled hearings is a procedural element that influences case progression and the administrative workload that owners and managers must navigate. The study centers on an operational variable managers encounter when coordinating documentation, representation, and follow-up with tenants.
Social Capital and Housing Stability
Hatch’s psychology independent study evaluated connections between social capital and housing stability by incorporating neighborhood and social network questions into ongoing program surveys. The added survey items were collected as part of PHLHousing+ monitoring, which began in fall 2022, and were analyzed under faculty mentorship. Those data efforts produce qualitative and quantitative inputs relevant to understanding tenant retention and stability dynamics.
Operational Implications for Managed Properties
Research topics targeted by the student touch on routine interactions between owners, managers, and tenants, including court appearances and case management. Information about attendance patterns and tenant social supports informs oversight practices, documentation strategies, and the assessment of owner risk exposure. The interdisciplinary approach links behavioral and planning perspectives that bear on daily property operations.
Program Evaluation and Data Use
The work combined lab-based qualitative interviews and survey coding with municipal internship tasks tied to planning datasets, yielding data for program evaluation. Those evaluation activities feed into broader monitoring of the cash assistance pilot and related municipal processes. Collected findings supply operational context for managers, owners, and municipal planners assessing housing stability and administrative interactions.
Photo credit: Eric Sucar, Article Source: Penn Today