Beyond the Move-Out: UT San Antonio Students Explore Resident Stability
A resident move-out can reflect many different circumstances — a transfer, a change in household needs, a move to another housing option or the end of a tenancy under challenging circumstances.
During the summer of 2026, Opportunity Home San Antonio worked with three students from The University of Texas at San Antonio (UT San Antonio) to examine what those transitions can reveal about housing stability.
Through the H-E-B Community Innovation Scholars Program, undergraduate students Aribah Hussain, Jose Granados and Daniel Hernandez analyzed Public Housing move-out and transfer records, met with employees and visited Opportunity Home communities to better understand the people and places behind the data.
Looking Beyond a Move-Out
The students reviewed 7,341 Public Housing move-out records and classified them as positive, negative or neutral.
Their analysis highlighted several key patterns:
- 73.5% of move-outs were neutral, largely reflecting transfers, life changes or other circumstances that were neither clearly positive nor negative.
- Abandon/skip-outs accounted for 54.8% of negative move-outs, making them the most common negative reason identified.
- Housing Choice Voucher transitions accounted for 80.5% of positive move-outs, showing that many positive exits involved continued housing assistance in the private rental market.
Negative move-outs were also associated with household type, rent-to-charge and length of tenancy. Demographic factors such as race, ethnicity and age, however, were not among the significant predictors.
The findings identify patterns, not causes, but provide a foundation for future research and resident support.
Connecting Data With Real-World Experience
The students’ different fields of study shaped how they approached the work.
Visiting Opportunity Home communities gave Hussain, a psychology major, a clearer sense of the realities behind the data.
“We don’t know what residents go through each day, but seeing what their lived experience is like helps bring things to light,” she said.
The experience reinforced Hernandez’s interest in how thoughtful housing design can shape residents’ daily lives.
“I would like to see better designs of housing communities that fill up empty spaces and provide better quality of life to residents,” he said.
Applying his computer science background to the research helped Granados see how data can be used to address community needs.
“Through my experience here, I can see data beyond numbers and statistics and create actionable solutions that serve my community,” he said.
From Research to Future Possibilities
After the team completed its research, Hussain and Granados returned to Opportunity Home’s Central Office on Aug. 24 to present the findings to leadership.
The presentation prompted discussion about earlier resident outreach, stronger move-out and transfer tracking, payment-stability support and future analysis.
The students also explored how decision-support tools, including artificial intelligence (Al), could identify patterns linked to negative move-outs and support earlier outreach. Their research emphasized that such tools should guide prevention efforts, not resident scoring or adverse housing decisions.
A Partnership Built Around Community Impact
The H-E-B Community Innovation Scholars Program is a partnership between UT San Antonio’s College of AI, Cyber and Computing and United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County.
Opportunity Home was selected as a community partner after its Strategy, Data and Innovation department submitted a competitive application proposing the move-out research.
The partnership gave students an opportunity to apply their academic skills to a real community challenge while giving Opportunity Home fresh perspectives on how data can support more proactive, resident-centered approaches to housing stability.