The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Thursday awarded $74 million to hundreds of public housing authorities across the country, including 10 grants totaling more than $2.4 million in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
The grants are designed to help public housing residents participating in the Housing Choice Voucher Program and/or residing in public housing to increase their earned income and reduce their dependency on public assistance and rental subsidies, HUD officials said.
“One of the most important things we can do as public servants is to help HUD-assisted families achieve their dreams,” HUD Secretary Ben Carson said. “Working with our local partners, HUD is connecting families to educational opportunities, job training, childcare and other resources that allow them to get higher paying jobs and, ultimately, become self-sufficient.”
The grants renew HUD’s support of 688 public housing authorities through the department’s Family Self-Sufficiency program, which helps local public housing authorities hire service coordinators to connect residents with programs and services that already exist in the local community.
“It’s not often that a government program creates incentives that support families moving toward greater self-sufficiency, while also benefiting the local housing authority and the public coffers,” HUD Regional Administrator Jimmy Stracner said. “A recent cost-benefit analysis of a local Family Self-Sufficiency program revealed that over five years it achieved just that — saving tax payers nearly as much as it cost them and netting an average of over $10,300 per participant to help them along that journey.”
The Southland recipients of the HUD grants are:
— Culver City Housing Authority ($33,107);
— Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles ($693,795);
— Pomona Housing Authority ($69,000);
— Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles ($755,480);
— Anaheim Housing Authority ($72,000);
— City of Norwalk ($36,000);
— Orange County Housing Authority ($263,507);
— Housing Authority of the City of Long Beach ($272,035);
— Garden Grove Housing Authority ($69,380); and
— Housing Authority of the City of Santa Ana ($138,759).