The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has premiered a quarterly publication that will highlight policy-relevant research for policy makers, advocates, and housing industry members.  Each issue of Evidence Matters will focus on a key theme that will highlight what HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan called the Department's renewed focus on research, data, and evidence-based policymaking.

The first issue of Evidence Matters spotlights neighborhood revitalization which Donovan called an ideal topic for launching the publication "because its goals intersect directly with HUD's mission to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality, affordable homes for all."   The issue, which can be downloaded in PDF format or ordered as a hard copy, features a lead article on Hope IV, a program which combines the demolition or physical rehabilitation of severely distressed public housing projects with services aimed at improving the life of its residents.  Other articles in the issue are concerned with understanding the effects on a neighborhood of concentrated poverty and building community capacity.

In announcing the publication Donovan said, "We live in an age in which technology has made information more accessible than at any time in our history. Our charge is to turn that information into knowledge, and that knowledge into change. By demonstrating HUD's commitment to evidence based policymaking and providing a space for diverse viewpoints at this challenging but exciting moment in housing and community development, I'm confident that Evidence Matters will help us do just that."

The first issue of Evidence Matters can be downloaded or ordered at http://www.huduser.org/portal/periodicals/em/winter11/index.html.