SHA awarded $1 million in grants from HUD to fund services for
residents
Grant awards keep core services alive
SHA and its partner agencies were recently awarded
a grant of more than $1 million to support services for seniors and
families in many SHA communities. Funding will come from the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development through its grant program for Resident Opportunities and
Self-Sufficiency (ROSS).
Four grants will provide a range of services across SHA's
communities including:
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Job Connection job readiness and placement
services at High Point and Yesler Terrace;
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A computer lab at the Yesler Terrace
resource center;
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Case management, community building
activities, exercise and nutrition programs for elderly and disabled
residents in SHA high rise communities;
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Coordinators for the Family
Self-Sufficiency program, and;
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Homeownership counseling services and a
Housing Choice Voucher homeownership demonstration program (in a joint venture with the King
County Housing Authority).
"We had a good grant writing season for HUD grants,"
reports John Forsyth, SHA's Resident Services Administrator,
"These four awards allow us to continue our core resident
services programs that enable residents of our communities to
achieve the highest levels of self-sufficiency that they can."
Job Connection
The Job Connection's High Point Jobs Resource Center and Yesler
Terrace Learning Center provide case managers to help participants
with initial employment, promotion and wage advancement. The
Job Connection was originally funded with Department of Labor grants
that end in December 2002; the program will now continue with a
$500,000 three-year grant.
One program participant expressed her gratitude for the support
of Job Connection staff member, Robert Blumenfeld:
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"He
always tells
me that he is proud of my success. He’s always been there when I
need encouragement and he shows me that he really cares. He keeps it
real (the job training and employment goals) while letting me aim
for my dreams."
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Job Connection goals for 2003
include:
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The continuation of case management and supportive
services;
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Partnerships with local businesses to encourage training
and employment, and;
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Referrals for job training and self-employment
business training.
Service Coordination for Elderly and Disabled Households
This $256,000, one-year grant funds case management services for
elderly and disabled households in SHA's public housing high rises.
Case managers employed by the City of Seattle hold office hours in each building to provide residents
with services such as crisis
intervention, chore services, eviction prevention and referrals to services in the
broader community.
The ROSS funding permits SHA to use other resources in 2003
to focus on crisis intervention for residents
with mental illness. These services will be provided by Community Psychiatric
Clinic.
This $256,00 grant will also support Fremont Public
Association's Partners in Caring, a program focused on improving the
quality of life for elderly and disabled residents. Partners
in Caring sponsors outings and conducts community building
activities, nutrition and exercise programs in eleven of SHA's 28
high rise buildings. Cecile Henault, who oversees Partners in
Caring for FPA, welcomes the renewed funding.
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"Given cutbacks
from all the other funding sources, it's really nice to know this
grant will be here."
--Cecile Henault |
She looks forward to expanding
transportation for special events and errands for residents with the
donation of two vans, one with a wheelchair lift, from King County
Metro.
Family Self-Sufficiency
In the Family Self-Sufficiency Program (FSS), participating
families develop a five-year self-sufficiency plan. The goal is to move up the economic ladder and away from the need for
government subsidies.
As participants' rents increase due to earned
income, SHA matches the increase in their rent
and sets these funds aside in an account that family
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Participating in the FSS program has
helped this family to save for a down payment and buy a house.
They'll move in this month.
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may
use to accomplish their goals (e.g. car repair, education, small
business start up). FSS staff work with the families
to help them realize their goals. Currently about 450 families
receiving housing assistance from SHA are enrolled in the FSS
program. This $197,000, one-year grant covers the administrative
costs of the program.
Homeownership Supportive Services
SHA and the King County Housing Authority (KCHA) were jointly awarded
$400,000 for three years to help up to twenty families each year to work toward home ownership. The
program is intended to couple mortgage payment assistance through
Housing Choice
Vouchers with homeownership counseling, credit assistance, referrals
to lenders and matching fund programs.
The grant will bring
counseling resources to help qualified public housing families who
are already very serious about becoming home owners. Stephen Antupit,
SHA Homeownership Coordinator, notes, "The highly restricted
Housing Choice Voucher component of this grant is not a magic
solution for low income home buyers. But, this grant will allow us to
test whether Housing Choice Vouchers can be an effective home-buying
tool in the very expensive Seattle-King County real estate
market." KCHA wrote the successful grant application. |
