Courtesy photo.
SANTA BARBARA — The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara (HACSB) has received a $203,425 grant from the U.S. Department of Urban Development (HUD) to help low-income residents become self-sufficient through its Family Self-Sufficiency Program.
HACSB developed the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Program to link housing assistance with a range of services that help participating families find jobs, increase earned income, reduce or eliminate the need for rental and/or welfare assistance, and make progress toward achieving economic independence and housing self-sufficiency.
“Our Family Self-Sufficiency Program enables participants to acquire the skills necessary to become independent of governmental assistance and truly be self-sufficient,” said Rob Fredericks, Executive Director/CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara. “Their success is our community’s success.”
The Housing Authority partners with a network of community agencies and service providers who offer the program vision and coordination, as well as life-skills, entrepreneurial training, financial literacy workshops, academic counseling, vocational rehabilitation, family counseling and job placement to the participants. Currently, the Housing Authority is honored to have the following organization represented on its FSS Program Coordinating Committee: Santa Barbara City College Continuing Education; Montecito Bank & Trust; Women’s Economic Ventures; Union Bank; Financial Advisors; Teen Connect; Santa Barbara City College Promise; Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center;
Natalia Alarcon, Family Service Agency; Workforce Resource Center; and the Department of Rehabilitation.
To date, 298 residents have graduated from the FSS Program, and 46 are now homeowners.
About the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara: The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara is a local public agency created for the purpose of providing safe, decent, and quality affordable housing and supportive services to eligible persons with limited incomes, through a variety of federal, state, local and private resources. Since 1969, the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara has developed and/or secured over 3,600 units (about 1,200 owned or managed and 2,400 of Section 8 subsidy) of affordable rental housing for Santa Barbara through a variety of federal, state, local and private funding sources. Please visit the website at www.hacsb.org