PROVIDENCE, RI – U.S. Senator Jack Reed today announced $986,705 in federal grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to assist ten Rhode Island communities in deploying local strategies to empower assisted housing residents to find work, access job training resources, and achieve financial independence.

The funding, made available through HUD’s Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Program, will allow local public housing agencies to work with social service agencies, community colleges, businesses, and other local partners to help public housing residents and individuals participating in HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher and Public Housing Programs increase their education or gain marketable skills that will enable them to obtain employment, advance professionally and increase earnings.  Congress combined the Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher FSS programs to enhance opportunities for residents and better connect them with the services they need, a streamlining effort made possible by legislation authored by Senator Reed.  Reed is the Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD), which oversees federal spending for HUD programs.

“The Family Self-Sufficiency Program is about helping individuals set goals and providing them with the necessary support to achieve them.  This is a smart investment in helping participants gain skills and increase their earning power while reducing the need for rental subsidies or other public assistance,” said Reed, who authored the bipartisan Family Self-Sufficiency Act. 

The FSS program helps participants pursue and maintain employment and financial independence.  This is made possible through FSS Coordinators, who work as a conduit between Public Housing Authorities (PHAs), local partners, such as employers and service providers, and the families they serve. 

To incentivize families, the program includes an escrow savings account into which the housing authority deposits a portion of the increased rental charges that a family pays as its income from earnings rise.  Eligible families that achieve their goals and successfully complete the FSS program may then graduate and withdraw funds from the escrow account.

“This federal funding helps people help themselves.  It empowers them to gain marketable skills, improve their job prospects, and sets them on a path towards greater economic independence and self-sufficiency,” Reed continued.  “The program provides a roadmap to stability along with critical support services to get there, like help with education, job‎ training, or child care so individuals can support their families.”

Reed has offered bipartisan legislation, cosponsored by Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), to enhance the FSS program by streamlining the administration of this program, broadening the range of supportive services that can be provided to a resident, and extending the program’s reach. 

In addition to the ten Rhode Island communities set to receive funding from HUD, Rhode Island Housing will receive a $183,618 grant to benefit other Rhode Island FSS participants.

Communities receiving the HUD Public Housing Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Program awards announced today include:

  • Central Falls Housing Authority: $63,456 
  • Town of Coventry Housing Authority: $51,571
  • Town of Cumberland Housing Authority: $67,326
  • Housing Authority of the Town of East Greenwich: $69,000
  • East Providence Housing Authority: $58,970
  • Narragansett Housing Authority: $69,000
  • Town of North Providence Housing Authority: $20,020
  • Housing Authority of the City of Pawtucket: $138,000
  • The Housing Authority of the City of Providence: $196,744
  • Warwick Housing Authority: $69,000