Welfare
Reform Brings Housing to Austin
When U.S. Welfare reform began in the mid-1990s, the Housing
Authority of the City of Austin (HACA) was among the lowest
performing metropolitan agencies in the country. Basic housing
assistance and welfare services provided solely by HACA were
not meeting the community’s needs. Today, HACA boasts
a top-six U.S. ranking in housing assistance management based
on a lofty family self sufficiency objective that weaves the
threads of Austin’s housing and welfare reform efforts
into a seamless—and highly durable—fabric.
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HACA’s transformation began over six years ago with
the appointment of a new Executive Director who was determined
to set things right. Then in 1999, a $1.7 million U.S. Department
of Labor Welfare-to-Work grant to the local workforce investment
board provided a much-needed infusion of working capital.
The workforce board established a partnership with HACA, and
their combined efforts became known as the Austin Works Together
(AWT) Project. Over the next three years, AWT lost its name,
but HACA has retained those partnerships and strategies that
made AWT an initial success in the form of the Family Self
Sufficiency (FSS) Program.
FSS is a HUD-mandated program for housing authorities nationwide;
its intent is to move families from public assistance to employment.
Funding from the Resident Opportunity for Self Sufficiency
(ROSS) Resident Service Delivery Model has revolutionized
HACA’s job training and supportive services. ROSS funds
allow HACA to strengthen existing and create new community
partnerships, preserve and enhance their local workforce relationships,
hire project coordinators, and recruit program participants.
Numerous public-private partnerships are what make HACA’s
FSS Program a success. Austin’s Community Action Network,
a nonprofit organization dedicated to sustaining community
collaborative efforts, provided technical assistance in bringing
these partners to HACA. According to James L. Hargrove, HACA
Executive Director, “HACA has leveraged themselves into
the Austin community by partnering with the best in the nation.”
Goodwill Industries, HACA’s largest partner, is effectively
meeting the employment and training needs of public housing
residents through the Job Source Center. Other paid and non-paid
partners, including the Austin Academy, Austin Community College,
and the Austin Baptist Association’s Mission Baptist,
provide GED assistance, continuing education, job placement,
entrepreneurial training, small business loans, and a summer
youth employment program for kids ages 14–17. A collection
of other partners, Southwest Housing Compliance Corporation
(SHCC), Capital Metro, and various faith-based groups, provide
transit assistance, childcare vouchers, and reimbursement.
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Not only do program residents and the community benefit from
HACA’s collaborative efforts, but so do the partners
themselves. Program facilities provided in Austin’s
19 public housing sites and by the Health and Human Services
Department are also available for HACA’s partners to
use in providing services outside the FSS Program. Director
Hargrove observed that “We want the influx of people
who would not normally come onto the Housing Authority’s
property to learn about public housing, but also provide different
perspective to residents.”
In addition to cultivating partner relationships, it’s
important for HACA to preserve their affiliation with the
local workforce board, WorkSource. WorkSource is a business-led
board that plans and oversees local workforce development
and job training programs. By using performance initiatives,
“We’ve taken the program and capitalized on the
ability to make sure we have good attendance in classes,”
Wood reports. HACA representatives continue to meet with WorkSource
on a quarterly basis to discuss community needs.
While HACA provides 5,000 housing vouchers each year (a number
that’s been on the rise since 1997), their homeownership
program is still in development. HACA believes that the greatest
vehicles for upward mobility are education, employment, and
professional growth. Through these avenues, residents of public
assisted housing can become financially independent, which
in turn can lead to homeownership. This strategy has earned
HACA both state and national and recognition. The National
Association of Housing Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) has
awarded HACA the Commissioner of the Year Award for its leadership
in education and faith-based partnerships. Both NAHRO and
SHCC award over $50,000 in scholarships for high school graduates
in the FSS program to attend college or trade school.
For more information regarding HACA’s FSS Program,
you may contact Veronica Wood, Director of Community Development,
at VERONICAW@hacanet.org
or by calling (512) 477-4488. For more information on welfare
reform’s effect on housing, PD&R offers a new report,
Housing Assistance and the Effects of Welfare Reform:
Evidence from Connecticut and Minnesota, which is covered
elsewhere in this issue and is available at www.huduser.org/publications/pubasst/housingAsst.html
or in printed form for $5 by calling 800-245-2691.
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