Grant to empower low-income residents to gain job skills

Posted 7/19/16

U.S. Senator Jack Reed has announced $986,705 in federal grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to assist 10 Rhode Island communities, including the Warwick Housing Authority, in deploying local strategies to empower

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Grant to empower low-income residents to gain job skills

Posted

U.S. Senator Jack Reed has announced $986,705 in federal grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to assist 10 Rhode Island communities, including the Warwick Housing Authority, in deploying local strategies to empower assisted housing residents to find work, access job training resources, and achieve financial independence. The Warwick authority will receive $69,000.

The funding, made available through HUD's Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Program, will allow local public housing agencies 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 and Public Housing Programs increase their education or gain marketable skills that will enable them to obtain employment, advance professionally and increase earnings. Congress combined the Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher FSS programs to enhance opportunities for residents and better connect them with the services they need, a streamlining effort made possible by legislation authored by Senator Reed. Reed is the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD), which oversees federal spending for HUD programs.

"The Family Self-Sufficiency Program is about helping individuals set goals and providing them with the necessary support to achieve them. This is a smart investment in helping participants gain skills and increase their earning power while reducing the need for rental subsidies or other public assistance," said Reed, who authored the bipartisan Family Self-Sufficiency Act.

The FSS program helps participants pursue and maintain employment and financial independence. This is made possible through FSS coordinators, who work as a conduit between public housing authorities (PHAs), local partners, such as employers and service providers, and the families they serve.

To incentivize families, the program includes an escrow savings account into which the housing authority deposits a portion of the increased rental charges that a family pays as its income from earnings rises. Eligible families that achieve their goals and successfully complete the FSS program may then graduate and withdraw funds from the escrow account.

"This federal funding helps people help themselves. It empowers them to gain marketable skills, improve their job prospects, and sets them on a path towards greater economic independence and self-sufficiency," continued Reed. "The program provides a roadmap to stability along with critical support services to get there, like help with education, job training, or child care so individuals can support their families."

Reed has offered bi-partisan legislation, co-sponsored by Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), to enhance the FSS program by streamlining the administration of this program, broadening the range of supportive services that can be provided to a resident, and extending the program's reach.

In addition to the 10 Rhode Island communities set to receive funding from HUD, Rhode Island Housing will receive a $183,618 grant to benefit other Rhode Island FSS participants.

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