New Community Service Requirement to
affect up to 1,000 residents
Residents must perform up to 8 hours per month of volunteer
service to avoid eviction
SEATTLE—October
25, 2003—By early 2004, some residents of SHA’s public housing will
face a new lease requirement to perform volunteer community services
as a result of a Congressional mandate.
This controversial requirement was part of the Public Housing Reform
Act of 1998, but up until this year, Congress had delayed its
implementation. However, the latest HUD Appropriations Act signed on
February 21, 2003, requires all housing authorities to implement this requirement for
public housing residents.
Called the “Community Service and Self-Sufficiency Requirement,”
this law says that low-income residents in public housing must
contribute or participate for eight hours
a month in a community service or a self-sufficiency activity or
combination of both, as a condition of receipt of Federal housing
assistance. HUD defines community service as the performance of
voluntary work or duties that are a public benefit, and that serve
to improve the quality of life, enhance resident self-sufficiency,
or increase resident self-responsibility in the community.
The law also requires that residents document their service and that
the Housing Authority keep track of it for each resident. SHA has
not received additional funding from HUD to implement this program.
There are a number of exemptions to the
requirement, and activities that residents are already doing will
qualify. For example, the following conditions qualify a resident
for exemption:
-
62 years or older;
-
Blind or disabled, or a primary caretaker of such;
-
Employed;
-
Involved
in a state employment assistance program such as WorkFirst, Jobs Plus or Job
Connection; or
-
Exempted
from having to engage in a work activity under a State
program.
SHA is currently in the process of sending letters to all public
housing residents to notify them of this requirement. A team of SHA
staff and community members are developing procedures that will
determine how the requirement will be implemented and administered.
SHA will individually notify residents whether or not they are
exempt, and what they need to do in order to comply.
Because there is no funding accompanying this regulation, SHA views
the requirement as an unfunded mandate. “We hope to implement this requirement in the spirit of our
own mission, to increase self-sufficiency for people with low
incomes, and we hope to do it in such a way that it is not a burden
for our residents,” said Executive Director Harry Thomas. “However, after reducing staff and programs due to funding
cuts, administering this program will be very challenging.”
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