04/07/2021

CH Awarded $401,726 HUD ROSS Grant

Columbia Housing Receives Resident Opportunities and Self-Sufficiency (ROSS) Service Coordinator Grant

Totaling $401,726

COLUMBIA, SC - On April 6, 2021, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) has announced that Columbia Housing has been awarded a Resident Opportunities and Self-Sufficiency (ROSS) Service Coordinator grant totaling $401,726. The funds will be used to cover the salaries of two Supportive Service Coordinators for the next three years. The ROSS Service Coordinators help Columbia Housing's public housing residents connect with employment and training, financial literacy services, educational opportunities, as well as health and wellness programs. "We are excited to work with our local housing partners to help public housing residents find jobs and opportunities that will propel them forward," said HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. "The funding announced today will help residents reach their goals and dreams tomorrow."

"The ROSS funds provide us with additional resources to assign a dedicated team of individuals to connect our families with an array of life-changing services. We have over 180 partners helping us to ensure that our senior families have the resources they need to age comfortably in place; to connect our school-age youth with the educational resources they need to achieve academic success; to engage our workforce-age adults with opportunities to obtain employment or the resources they may need to access a promotion on their current job, and to connect all of our families with primary health care resources" said Ivory N. Mathews, Chief Executive Officer of Columbia Housing. "We are grateful to be among the group of housing authorities across the country to receive these extremely valuable resources that are helping us to continue our efforts of putting residents first and providing services beyond brick and mortar. To demonstrate to the community how important these resources are, we invite you to join us on April 14, 2021, in a community-wide virtual conversation on ways these resources impact our residents' quality of life."

The purpose of Columbia Housing's ROSS-SC program is to support local, innovative strategies that link public housing assistance with public and private resources to allow participating families to increase earned income, reduce or eliminate the need for governmental dependency and make progress towards achieving economic independence and housing self-sufficiency.

Columbia Housing, established on April 10, 1934, is a local Public Housing Agency (PHA) whose mission is because CH cares, we are leveraging the power of housing to build a foundation for individuals to thrive. Columbia Housing promotes personal, economic, and social upward mobility to provide families the opportunity to make the transition from subsidized to non-subsidized housing. Columbia Housing currently owns and operates 1,641 public housing units, 323 affordable units and administers 4,237 Housing Choice Vouchers to include 400 Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Vouchers (HUD-VASH) to local veterans facing chronic homelessness in Richland County.

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PRESS RELEASE FROM HUD - April 6, 2021

HUD AWARDS MORE THAN $36 MILLION TO SUPPORT PUBLIC HOUSING AND NATIVE AMERICAN RESIDENTS IN ACHIEVING ECONOMIC AND HOUSING STABILITY

WASHINGTON - Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the award of $36.9 million to public housing authorities, public housing resident associations, Native American tribes, and nonprofit organizations across the nation. Grantees will use these Resident Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency (ROSS) grant funds to hire and/or retain Service Coordinators to assist public and Native American housing families to meet their professional, financial, health, and educational goals. In so doing, ROSS Service Coordinators will help remove barriers so that residents can improve their economic mobility, health outcomes, and overall quality of life. View a complete list of organizations receiving funding.

"We are excited to work with our local housing partners to help public housing residents find jobs and opportunities that will propel them forward," said HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. "The funding announced today will help residents reach their goals and dreams tomorrow."

The ROSS grant is a place-based program designed to assist residents to make progress towards economic and housing self-sufficiency. Service Coordinators provide case management, assess residents' needs, and work in partnership with local service providers to fulfill those needs. Service Coordinators provide a critical service to residents by helping to remove barriers that can stand in the way of progress. They also work with seniors and people with disabilities to ensure they receive the medical care and social supports required to age and remain in place, thereby avoiding costlier forms of care.

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