NINE IDAHO, OREGON & WASHINGTON STATE HOUSING AUTHORITIES WIN $2.4 MILLION TO HELP RESIDENTS "CONTROL THEIR OWN DESTINIES"

SEATTLE - Nine public and tribal housing authorities in Idaho, Oregon and Washington State have won a total of $2,400,105 in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to retain or hire staff to assist residents acquire skills, find jobs, achieve educational goals and, ultimately, attain financial self-sufficiency.

Today's awards were part of a total of $34.8 million Resident Opportunity and Self Sufficiency (ROSS) Service Coordinator Program grants made to 118 public and tribal housing authorities and resident associations in 34 states.

"It's part of our mission to help connect public housing residents to better, higher paying jobs and appropriated, critical services as a means of helping them move beyond public assistance and toward self-sufficiency," said HUD Secretary Ben Carson. "This funding gives our local partners resources they can use to help residents become economically independent and achieve the dreams they have for themselves and their children."

"Beyond providing families with a safe, decent, affordable place to call home, the best thing publicly-assisted housing can do is to serve as a launching pad that enables residents to acquire the skills and get the jobs that make them economically self-sufficient and no longer in need of assisted housing," said HUD Northwest Regional Administrator Jeff McMorris. "Self-sufficiency helps families control their own destinies and affords other families the same opportunity."

Today's ROSS Self Sufficiency grant winners include:

The funding, provided through HUD's Resident Opportunities and Self Sufficiency - Service Coordinators Program (ROSS-SC) provides funding for three years to enable grantees hire or retain "service coordinators" who work directly with residents to assess their needs and connect them with education, job training and placement programs, and/or computer and financial literacy services available in their community to promote self-sufficiency.

The purpose of HUD's ROSS-SC program is to encourage innovative and locally driven strategies that link public housing assistance with public and private resources to enable HUD-assisted families to increase their earned income; reduce or eliminate their need for welfare assistance; and promote economic independence and housing self-sufficiency. These grants provide funding to hire and retain Service Coordinators who will assess the needs of residents of conventional Public Housing or Indian housing and coordinate available resources in the community to meet those needs. In addition, ROSS-SC grants help improve living conditions for seniors, enabling them to age-in-place.

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HUD's mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and http://espanol.hud.gov.

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