SEATTLE—November 26, 2002—Seattle Housing Authority 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:

• Job Connection job readiness and placement services at High Point and Yesler Terrace
   
• A computer lab at the Yesler Terrace resource center
   
• Case management, community building activities, exercise and nutrition programs for elderly and disabled residents in SHA high rise communities
   
• Coordinators for the Family Self-Sufficiency program
   
• Homeownership counseling services and a Housing Choice Voucher home ownership 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.

Job Connection goals for 2003 include:

• The continuation of case management and supportive services
   
• Partnerships with local businesses to encourage training and employment
   

• 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.

The 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.

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 may use to accomplish their goals (e.g. car repair, education, small business start up). FSS staff works 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.