BOSTON, Massachusetts — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on July 18 awarded $439,537 in Maine to help families living in public housing and those participating in HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher Program connect with services to further their education, find good jobs, and to set them on a path to self-sufficiency.
Of $75 million being awarded nationwide, Maine will receive $439,537; in Aroostook County, the city of Caribou will get $48,729.
Funded through HUD’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program (FSS), these grants allow public housing agencies (PHAs) to work with social service agencies, community colleges, businesses and other local partners to help public housing residents and individuals participating in HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher Program advance their education or gain marketable skills that will help them get a job or advance in their current workplace. As of fiscal year 2015, recipients of Project-Based Rental Assistance are also eligible to participate.
The FSS program helps local public housing authorities hire service coordinators who work directly with residents to connect them with programs and services that already exist in the local community, thereby helping participating families to find jobs, increase earned income, reduce or eliminate the need for rental and/or welfare assistance, and make progress toward achieving economic independence and housing self-sufficiency.
Participants in the program sign a five-year contract that requires the head of the household to obtain employment. At the end of the five years no one in the family is to receive cash welfare assistance. Families in the FSS program have an interest-bearing escrow account established for them. The amount credited to the family’s escrow account is based on increases in the family’s earned income during the term of the FSS contract.
If the family successfully completes the contract, they receive the escrow funds that it can use for any purpose, including improving credit scores, paying educational expenses, or a down-payment on a home.
HUD is currently conducting a longitudinal study on the program, with the first set of results expected in 2018.
