In order to help low-income residents earn housing independence, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced an award of $35 million.
This money will go to public housing authorities, public housing resident associations, Native American tribes and nonprofit organizations across the U.S. It will help these organizations hire or retain service coordinators who help residents find jobs, educational opportunities and help residents achieve economic and housing independence.
The funding is provided through HUD’s Resident Opportunities and Self Sufficiency – Service Coordinators Program. The service coordinators provide services such as connecting residents to job training and placement programs and computer and financial literacy services.
“It’s part of our mission to help connect public housing residents to better, higher paying jobs and critical services as a means of helping them move beyond public assistance and toward self-sufficiency,” HUD Secretary Ben Carson said. “This funding gives our local partners resources they can use to help residents become economically independent and achieve the dreams they have for themselves and their children.”
HUD explained its program works by encouraging local programs to link public housing assistance with public and private resources, enabling HUD families to increase their income, reduce their need for welfare assistance and promote economic independence and housing self-sufficiency.
Click here to see a list of where the $35 million grant is going, broken down by state.
Recently, HUD announced Trump’s budget gives the department’s funding a boost of 1% from its proposed budget last year, and supports homelessness by requesting a record $2.4 billion to support thousands of local housing and service programs.
However, not everyone agrees the new funding request is beneficial for the programs the department supports. The National Low Income Housing Coalition claims the budget slashes federal housing benefits that help millions of low-income seniors, people with disabilities, families with children, low-wage workers, veterans and other vulnerable people afford their homes.
