Coordinate Access to Services and Support Asset Building

What Can Policymakers Do?

• Require housing education and counseling in connection with assistance programs. Housing counseling helps to ensure that families get the information they need to successfully prepare for homeownership and effectively manage their budget to cover the mortgage and other housing related responsibilities.  States should promote awareness and increase funding for education and counseling programs for all residents and should require housing education and counseling for state housing assistance programs.  Washington State provides free housing counseling and assistance to its residents as well as guidance on accessing HUD-approved housing counselors.  Colorado’s Homeownership Education Program is required by the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority for all participants in their homeownership programs.

• Support asset building. Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are matched savings accounts created to help low-income or low-wealth families accumulate savings for long-term investments, such as homeownership, education, job training and small business endeavors.[1]   By creating state IDA programs or taking advantage of federal programs like Assets for Independence or the Family Self-Sufficiency program states provide families with opportunities to build assets and invest in homeownership.  The Illinois Department of Human Services is leading a partnership with the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Illinois Housing Development Authority and Partnership for Homeownership on Assets Illinois, a program that will provide up to 850 Illinois families with IDAs.

• Co-locate housing with services. Service-enriched housing provides coordinated access to optional services and community resources for all residents.[2] Public housing complexes and project-based Section 8 developments provide place-based opportunities to deliver supportive services that help residents make progress toward self-sufficiency.[3]  When housing is combined with appropriate services, residents experience better outcomes, such as educational achievement, professional development, self-sufficiency, improved health and quality of life.[4]  In Illinois, the state’s Annual Comprehensive Housing Plan included supportive housing as a priority focus. The plan called for the creation of a Supportive Housing Working Group in order to analyze the State’s supportive housing needs and to develop realistic short- and long-term goals for the production, servicing and evaluation of supportive housing in Illinois.

• Require partnerships between human service agencies. Creating partnerships between housing, social services, education and labor agencies will lead to a more streamlined and effective way to provide affordable housing and services to low-income housing residents.[5]  Policymakers should require cross-agency partnerships in order to apply for federal grants like the Family Unification Program.  The Massachusetts Family Unification Program is a partnership between the state Department of Housing and Urban Development and the state Department of Human Services.  The program provides families with rental assistance when the lack of adequate housing is a primary factor in the removal of children from their families.