HUD Offers Technical Assistance to Launch Family Self-Sufficiency Program

HUD is seeking assisted housing owners and management agents interested in receiving technical assistance (TA) to support their establishment of a Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program in one or more of the properties they own or manage. The TA will help owners/agents get ready to successfully execute the program by working through the steps of program start-up, launch, and initial operation.

Owners/agents selected through a Request for Interest (RFI) will receive a combination of group and individualized TA. The TA will include coaching, education, and concrete support from an expert in FSS program implementation. This opportunity will help housing providers successfully develop the program framework and launch their FSS programs. The TA will also include assistance in outreach to and relationship-building between management agent staff and community service providers.

FSS is a HUD program that helps assisted housing residents increase their earnings and build financial assets. The program has two key features:

• A financial incentive for residents to increase their earnings in the form of an escrow account that increases as residents’ earnings increase. The escrow account helps residents build savings that they can use to improve their quality of life and advance their personal goals.
• Coaching or case management to help residents access services to overcome barriers to employment and strengthen their financial capabilities.

Residents who choose to enroll in FSS work with an FSS program coordinator, who partners with residents to identify a series of intermediate and long-term goals and the steps to achieve those goals. Each resident will have his or her identified goals and steps recorded in an Individual Training and Services Plan (ITSP). The ITSP is part of an FSS Contract of Participation (CoP) signed by the owner and the participating family. The CoP records the commitments of the family and the owner to work together to achieve the identified goals.

The RFI application submission deadline is Oct. 8. Initial selections will be made from completed RFI applications submitted by the deadline. HUD plans to notify applicants selected for TA by Nov. 15, 2019. And individual TA will begin in early December 2019 and will conclude in August 2020. Applications received after Oct. 8, 2019, will be considered on a rolling basis and will be contacted if and when additional TA funds are available.

Interested applicants should fill out and return the form found at https://files.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/MF-FSS-RFI-TA-for-FSS-Program.pdf to multifamilyFSS@abtassoc.com by the application deadline date.