HUD Announces ROSS-SC Awards

HUD recently announced $29 million in grants to public housing authorities (PHAs) and nonprofit organizations to hire or retain service coordinators to help residents find jobs and educational opportunities through the Resident Opportunities and Self Sufficiency Service Coordinators (ROSS-SC) program. Under the program, service coordinators will assess the needs of residents of conventional Public Housing or Indian Housing and coordinate available resources in the community to meet those needs.

ROSS grants may be made to four types of applicants: (1) PHAs; (2) tribes/tribally designated housing entities (TDHEs); (3) resident associations (RAs) such as resident management corporations, resident councils, and intermediary residents with either 501(c)(3) nonprofit or locally incorporated nonprofit status; and (4) nonprofit organizations supported by residents and/or PHAs tribes/TDHEs.

This program works to promote the development of local strategies to coordinate the use of assistance under the Public Housing program with public and private resources, for supportive services and resident empowerment activities. These services should enable participating families to increase earned income, reduce or eliminate the need for welfare assistance, make progress toward achieving economic independence and housing self-sufficiency, or, in the case of elderly or disabled residents, help improve living conditions and enable residents to age-in-place.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson noted that “[p]roviding families who live in public housing the opportunity to invest in themselves is a win-win as it helps them to gain economic and housing independence … [t]oday, we’re investing in our residents, offering them the tools they need to build a brighter future for themselves and their children.”

A list of grant funding by state can be found at www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/Main/documents/2018_ROSS_Grant_Chart.pdf.