By Theron Larkins
Staff Writer
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, the Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, and U.S. Sen. Angus King have announced that several housing authorities and municipalities in Maine will receive a total of $401,658 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The grant funding will come through HUD’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program (FSS) and will be used to help public housing residents and individuals participating in the Housing Choice voucher program to increase their education and gain marketable skills that will allow them to find employment and advance in their current work. Among the recipients for this grant funding is the city of Caribou, which will receive $48,323.
“Public Housing Authorities in Maine play an indispensable role in helping some of our most vulnerable citizens find safe and affordable housing,” said Sens. Collins and King in a joint statement. “This funding will support individuals and families across our state by connecting them with a range of vital services such as job training.”
For the Caribou Housing Agency, which administers the funding in the Caribou area, and is the only housing agency in Aroostook County that provides the Family Self-Sufficiency program, which is what the funding will go toward, the grant will pay for the salary and benefits for a family self-sufficiency homeownership coordinator. According to Caribou Housing Agency Executive Director Lisa Plourde, the $48,323 grant is applied for each year, in order to afford the agency the ability to hire someone for the FSS coordinator position, so there is no guarantee the town will receive the funding from year-to-year.
Sue Ouellette, of Caribou, is the FSS homeownership coordinator for the Caribou Housing Agency, and has been doing so for about two years, said Plourde. During those two years, there haven’t been many dull days for Ouellette.
“On a regular basis I have paperwork, meetings with participants and those meetings may vary from reporting a change in their income to help with a resume or application,” said Ouellete. “Sometimes they may just pop in to see me because they lost their job and need a little moral support. I have been the coordinator for two years and I hope I am here for a lot more to come. I have a wonderful rapport with my participants and I look forward to helping them find employment and start a savings account and just to help them get into homeownership if they want to.”
“What the family self-sufficiency coordinator does is coordinate and oversee 30 out of the 193 participants receiving vouchers the housing agency administers through the Housing Choice voucher program, which is formerly ‘Section 8;’ what she does with those 30 families or individuals is sit down and conduct an initial basic interview, just to start off with. She finds out what their goals are, and where they see themselves trying to be in the next five years. She may be sitting down with someone who doesn’t have a high school degree, she could be meeting with someone who doesn’t have a college degree or someone who just isn’t quite sure where they should start looking for a home.”
Plourde mentioned the various backgrounds and level of education that vary for participants in the FSS program because the FSS homeownership coordinator does a great deal more than just help people to find a home. Ouellette’s position as FSS coordinator allows her to develop personal relationships with the 30 participants she oversees, while working with them to establish a plan for the five-year HUD contract. This plan can entail anything and everything, from finding a home and a job to pay for it, to finding a way to enroll in or go back to college or even helping to buy and maintain a vehicle that will provide transportation to and from work.
“The reason we ask, ‘where do you see yourself in five years is because HUD provides this service based on a five-year contract, but Sue, our coordinator will meet with each of her 30 participants about two or three times a year, or more if necessary, and aids them in a number of different areas,” said Plourde. “Say a person is looking for help from the FSS program who doesn’t have a high school diploma or a G.E.D., she can help that person to get lined up with the correct person to talk to about earning a G.E.D. Some people just don’t know quite where to start, so that’s a major part of it.”
Plourde explained that the FSS coordinator can work with people who want to go to college for the first time or for someone who wants to go back to college or any number of different major life decisions.
“The coordinator will work with the participant to first figure out where they would like to go to college, whether it be Northern Maine Community College, UMPI or maybe even both because you can do that, or wherever they would like to attend,” Plourde added. “Next, they will help with figuring out what the participant would like to study and get them on the right track in school.”
Plourde then jumped to the hypothetical situation in which someone looking to sign up for the FSS program may already have a college degree or G.E.D., but they need help finding a job. This is another obstacle the FSS coordinator can help a participant to overcome.
“If someone needs help finding a job, there are a number of ways the coordinator can help. Sue will help people to set up their resumes, she’s done mock interviews with people, which we’ve had lots of success with,” said Plourde. “Some people have never done an interview, and that can be kind of scary for people, but Sue can help with advising people on what to say and what not to say during the interview process.”
Ouellete can also help people with drafting their resume and making sure it’s set up neatly and correctly.
Ouellete added that she couldn’t do her job without all the help and support she receives from partners in the area.
“I cannot do this alone. I need local area partners to help me make my participants’ dreams become a reality for them,” said Ouellette “I need partners like local businesses to employ my participants, banks to be lenders for them, schools and colleges to help them become employable and other agencies to assist them in becoming economically sufficient. So, my goal in the next few years is to get as many local partners as I can to help.”
For Plourde and the Housing agency, the goal entails much of the same.
“The main goal is to help them become employed and finish their schooling,” Plourde added. “It’s to help them to become self-sufficient. Some people are just down on their luck and don’t feel like they can get ahead in life, but with a little help it’s possible.”
After a person has found and maintained a job and finished their schooling, Plourde said, that is where her part of the job comes into play.
“If a person has finished their schooling, gone to college and now they’ve got a job, if their rent goes up based on their earned income, their wages, even if it’s just $10 per month, then our, meaning the Caribou Housing Agency’s share goes down $10. Then, what we’re going to do is take that $10 every month, as long as they are working and put it into an escrow account on that person’s behalf, which we will manage for them,” said Plourde. “So, that person will earn $10 every month, plus the interest. If that person gets another pay raise, and their rent goes up some more, we put more money into their account. After five years, if the person is still working and no longer on TANF, then they will have that money coming to them tax-free and clear, after what we call ‘graduating’ from the FSS program.”
Plourde added that they have had participants receive anywhere from $2,000 to $17,000 that they’ve earned in five years, and because it is a federal program, it doesn’t need to be claimed on a person’s tax return.
“During that five years, if they’re working, and say their car breaks down, they can take out a one-time emergency withdrawal for major auto repair,” Plourde added. “It can’t be used for basic wear and tear, but for any major automotive repairs, we do allow this one-time withdrawal, for something like a blown transmission. We’ve even had a couple participants in the past who have had cars so beyond repair, they’ve been able to take out enough money to buy a whole new car. It may not be brand new, but a good second-hand car that will help them to maintain their self-sufficiency.”
The emergency withdrawal, Plourde mentioned, could also be used for something like a college student who needs textbooks, or a nursing student who needs new scrubs, which can all be expensive.
“We’ve even had a few FSS program graduates who have been able to use the money they saved in five years toward a homeownership,” Plourde said proudly. “It can be used for a down payment, repairs or basically anything else geared toward homeownership. Overall, it’s just a great program, it really is. We’ve had participants who have said, ‘it’s too good to be true’ and sometimes it does seem that way, because that’s how most of us feel and think about the program, but it’s all geared toward helping people become self-sufficient. Some people have goals they simply can’t financially afford, and that’s what the FSS program is for. Also, once the participant does graduate from the FSS program, they don’t necessarily have to get off the Housing Choice voucher program if they still need it. I always tell anyone who’s interested in this program to take advantage of it, because again, there are only 30 out of the 193 participants accepted.”
Plourde explained that there is a waiting list for the FSS program, as well as the Housing Choice voucher program, which Plourde estimated their current waiting list at about 8-12 months.
For more information on the FSS program or the Housing Choice voucher program contact Plourde at 493-4234 ext. 219.
