CLPHA Press Room

In an article for Next City produced by FUSE Corps, a national nonprofit that aims to help urban communities thrive through partnerships with local governments, author Erin O’Donnell spotlights two CLPHA member PHAs’ successful programs that enable residents to become more financially self-reliant and less dependent on federal rental assistance.

To help its teen residents prepare for college and career success, the Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA) offers The Work Force, an after-school educational enrichment and work-readiness program, and This Way Ahead, a partnership with clothing retailer Gap that holds a paid 12-week training course for retail jobs. John Lindamood, CHA’s director of resident services, says that while the housing authority offers programs for residents of all ages, CHA intentionally focuses on helping teenagers in order to disrupt intergenerational poverty as they transition into postsecondary education, adulthood, and the workforce.

Flexibilities granted through the Moving to Work (MTW) program have enabled CHA to implement these programs and track their outcomes. A survey conducted by an external firm found that roughly two thirds of Work Force graduates exited subsidized housing within six years of graduating from high school and finishing the program.

The San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) also utilizes its MTW flexibilities to offer self-sufficiency programs that fit their residents’ needs. Through the Path to Success initiative, SDHC encourages residents to become more financially self-reliant and offers financial education and work-readiness classes. While ordinarily Path to Success requires participants to report their incomes each year, resulting in annual rent adjustments, SDHC only requires income reports every other year, giving residents more time to increase and save their added earnings. SDHC has found that since Path to Success’s 2013 implementation, residents’ incomes have increased by an average of 32 percent.

SDHC also offers a modified version of HUD’s Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program that lasts two years and offers additional incentives for families to complete their educational and employment-related goals.

Azucena Valladolid, SDHC’s senior vice president of rental assistance and workforce development, underscored the importance of these programs that improve residents’ financial outcomes: “When we increase the self-sufficiency of the families that we serve, we spend less on the family’s behalf, which means that we can then reinvest that savings and create more housing opportunities for the families that may need it.”

Read Next City’s Article

In “Austin Goes All in with RAD” Affordable Housing Finance’s Donna Kimura covers the Housing Authority of the City of Austin’s (HACA) progress in converting its 1,839 public housing units to project-based rental assistance through the RAD program. Now 80 percent complete after three years, HACA is on track to complete its portfolio conversion in the next year and a half.

 “RAD was used as a tool to essentially make meaningful and significant improvements for the residents that we serve,” HACA COO Sylvia Blanco told Affordable Housing Finance. “Under the traditional public housing resource and capital fund program, it would have taken decades to make the improvements. We’ve been able to do it in a fraction of the time.”

HACA has engaged a variety of partners and financing strategies during this process, most notably working with Fannie Mae to help finance 13 of HACA’s 16 RAD conversions thus far and using 4% and 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.

Read Affordable Housing Finance’s Article

From Multi-Housing News:

The Cambridge Housing Authority has obtained $82 million in financing for the renovation of Millers River Apartments, an affordable housing community that serves low-income households in Cambridge, Mass. MassHousing closed on the loan through the agency’s conduit loan program.

Located at 15 Lambert St., Millers River is within a 10-minute drive of downtown Boston. The 19-story property currently consists of 282 units, but three new apartments are slated to be added following renovation works. Thirty units will be set aside for households earning at or below 30 percent of the area’s median income and 255 apartments will be for families earning at or below 60 percent of the AMI, which in Cambridge is $79,350 for a one-person household and $90,650 for a two-person household.

Read Multi-Housing News' article "Affordable Boston-Area Community Receives $82M Loan," featuring the Cambridge Housing Authority.

From the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles's (HACLA) press release:

Forty-six (46) graduating high school seniors living in Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) public housing developments and Section 8 were recently awarded academic scholarships. Students received over approximately $51,000 in scholarships provided through the generosity of the Price Philanthropies Foundation, the County of Los Angeles Probation Housing Based Day Supervision (HBDS) Program, HACLA’s 501(c)(3) Kids Progress, Inc. (KPI) and various other businesses comprising HACLA’s Section 3 program. 

The students were recognized for their accomplishments during HACLA’s 7th Annual Scholarship Award Reception at USC’s Caruso Center on June 13. Los Angeles Lakers legend A.C. Green delivered the keynote address. Also in attendance were Cherrie Short, Co-Chair, KPI and Associate Dean of Global and Community Affairs at the USC School of Social Work, HACLA Commissioners Daniel Tenenbaum and Cielo Castro, and representatives from the Boys and Girls Clubs.

All students who received recognition and scholarships are active in the community and either come from one of HACLA’s public housing communities or are supported by HACLA’s Section 8 program. Many of the recipients are the first in their families to attend college.

Read HACLA's press release "HACLA Youth Receive $51,000 in Scholarships."