The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Thursday awarded $2 million in Family Self-Sufficiency grants to housing authorities across the state, including $195,084 to Vancouver Housing Authority.
In the Family Self-Sufficiency program, households receive rental assistance and connect to programs and services that help them to land employment, increase their income, and reduce or eliminate the need for public assistance, a HUD news release said. Families sign a five-year contract and have interest-bearing escrow accounts opened for them.
Average household income among participants increases from $10,000 to more than $27,000 upon completion of the program.
“When one family gets ahead, in a sense all families do,” HUD Northwest Regional Administrator Jeff McMorris said in the news release. “Thanks to the good work of housing authorities and their residents, the Family Self-Sufficiency program serves as a launching pad for assisted families to move up and out of assisted housing into a place — and a future — they truly can call their own. Their success, in turn, affords the same opportunity to other families in need, but who have been waiting for rental assistance for months or years to do the very same.”
