The Charlotte Housing Authority's "Moving to Work" program promises to end public housing as Charlotte knows it
The authority is seeking federal permission to start limiting stays in its subsidized housing units to five years.
A decision could come this fall on a program even the authority admits still has some details to
be ironed out, including how to pay the added training and other support many residents will need to make them self-sufficient.
³We have for some while been trying to find ways the Housing Authority can generate new
money to support our FSS (Family Self Sufficiency) program," said Housing Authority Chair Ray Matthews.
He said its not clear what federal money will be available for the kinds of support services
provided in the program, including providing participants with transportation to school and work and child care.
Money for self-sufficiency programs are built into the HOPE VI grants being used to refurbish
public housing units like Earle Village downtown and Dalton Village and Fairview Homes. However, funding for the authority's 6,000 families would be tremendous and there's no guarantee of federal funding, Matthews said.
³We don't have complete funding plans in place," he said. ³Part of it will come where we team up with county social services. Within the first two years, case workers will be mutual case
workers, from a social services stand point. This is a new concept. There has been no cooperation in this same manner. This is first time we have attempted to be this comprehensive."
Housing Authority Executive Director Harrison Shannon provided some statistics showing that the authority has had some success with self-sufficiency programs and that "84 families
have graduated from the program since 1994. Shannon said 500 families are currently enrolled in self-sufficiency programs.
³What these numbers do not show is that (housing authority) has had an overall success rate
in the FSS program of more than 80 percent, meaning that more than 80 percent of the individuals who enroll in it will complete it and graduate in five years," Shannon said. ³I hope
that you will see from this information that (authority) has developed an effective program that will provide a solid backbone for in Moving to Work program."
But the authority has also been criticized for its handling of the Earle Village self-sufficiency program, in which few of the former residents of the complex actually participated, while
those that did complained of a lack of support.
Matthews acknowledged the problems and said the authority is trying to avoid making similar
mistakes in the Fairview Homes and Dalton Village projects. Like Earle Village, each will be effectively transformed into less dense complexes, sometimes including single-family homes and chances of ownership.
³We don't have a good success rate," Matthews said. ³We don't have a high number of people in Earle Village remaining in the program. We are trying to sort that out and figure out
what are we going to do differently when we get into Fairview Homes and Dalton Village."
But, he said, getting families to move out of public housing is necessary.
³Nobody else is building new (public) housing," Matthews said. ³The only way to address the 4,000 families on our waiting list is to move people out. If we move 100 people out every
year Šthen we can provide another 100 families with that housing and maybe start them through the process. We see it as a way to effectively, increase the availability of low income housing.
Matthews admitted the authority will have to deal with a number of other issues, including the availability of low-income housing in the private market and the difficulties in helping some
families overcome all the social ills which led them into poverty in the first place.
³There are many reasons why people are in subsidized housing," Matthews said. ³We don't
have the answer to the question of how to get people out of poverty."
Matthews said that while some people will become self-sufficient, others may decide to drop
out of the program and would be forced to move out of subsidized units immediately. But, some families will not succeed because they simply don't have the capacity to do so within the time limit.
³There are a lot of people who are not going to make it," Matthews said. ³We have not addressed the issue of how to deal with these people."
He said more details will be available as the program is developed once it receives federal approval.
³It is the intention of the program to target for inclusion those individuals who have the mental
and physical capabilities for economic progress, and to provide them with appropriate training to facilitate that progress," Matthews said. ³It is not the intention of the (housing authority) to
arbitrarily and unfairly deny people who qualify the opportunity to live in public housing."
³I am sure our rules will properly recognize an individual's situation prior to their enrollment,
and after enrollment, their efforts and circumstances when we apply the time limits which will be a part of this concept."
