Family Self-Sufficiency Program
Program overview
Federally funded, locally-administered program for housing-assisted families: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Family Self-Sufficiency program (FSS) offers case management, a range of support services, and financial incentives to eligible housing-assisted families. The program aims to increase households’ employment rate and earnings and reduce their reliance on government subsidies.
Setting up an FSS program: FSS programs are administered by either public housing agencies (PHAs) or Project-Based Rental Assistance owners. The administering authority is supported by a Program Coordinating Committee (PCC), which may include representatives from organizations such as the PHA, city or county government, and city or county health departments. The PCC helps the administering PHA or owner develop an action plan and operating procedures and establish partnerships with public and private partners to provide supplemental social services.
Serving families receiving housing assistance: FSS is a voluntary program available to housing choice voucher recipients, public housing tenants, and tenants in Project-Based Rental Assistance programs. Eligible families enroll through their housing assistance provider. Once they enroll, families typically sign a five-year contract. This contract requires that the family will comply with their lease, that the head of the family will look for and maintain employment, and that family members will not receive any welfare support during that period.
Providing an opportunity to build savings: When a family begins participating in the program, the administering PHA or owner establishes an interest-bearing escrow account for them. Once a family completes the program, they receive the balance in the escrow account. To encourage and enable families to save, the difference in the rent that families pay when entering the program and the increased rent that they would be charged as their earned income increases (housing-assisted families typically pay rent as a percentage of their income) is credited to their escrow account.
Offering case management and access to services: Participants in the FSS program work closely with an FSS service coordinator to set and track progress toward financial and employment-related goals. The coordinator also connects families to social services, which are typically provided by outside partner agencies, that will help them achieve economic self-sufficiency. These services may include child care, transportation assistance, job training, employment counseling, financial literacy programming, and more.
Two studies with rigorous designs provide some evidence for the Family Self-Sufficiency Program (FSS) as a strategy for improving the financial stability of housing-supported households.
A 2017 randomized controlled trial found that participation in FSS increased enrollees’ educational enrollment by 9.5 percentage points, increased their likelihood of having any savings by 7 percentage points, reduced their likelihood of using check cashers by 9 percentage points, and reduced their likelihood of receiving TANF by 3.3 percentage points.
A 2021 randomized controlled trial found that, over a 5-year follow up period, 17 percent of program participants had graduated, exiting with an average escrow account disbursement of $9,651. A final report, which will include results over a 7-year follow up period, is forthcoming.
Build an extensive advertising and recruitment campaign: Since FSS is an opt-in program for families, it is important to publicize it to all families receiving housing assistance so they are aware of its availability and understand the steps required to enroll. Relatedly, publicizing success stories and potential program benefits will not only encourage program enrollment, but may also help improve public perception of PHAs and rental assistance programs.
Identify partners to provide support services: Partnerships with local social service providers are essential to the success of FSS programs. The administering agency should seek out a variety of public and nonprofit partners in order to offer a robust set of support services to enrolled families. These partners may include the same organizations that provide members for the PCC, such as workforce investment boards, city or county governments, city or county human services agencies, city or county departments of health and mental health, and two- or four-year colleges.
Share program responsibilities with external partners: Administering FSS agencies should identify areas in which they may lack expertise and consider offloading these functions to external partners. For example, if an administering agency is not equipped to provide financial counseling services, it should recruit a credit counseling provider to offer financial goal-setting support for participants.
Routinely conduct program monitoring and data collection: Public housing authorities implementing FSS programs should regularly self-assess their progress along performance metrics. In addition, PHAs should maintain up-to-date data on program participants, so case managers can assist them in setting goals and identifying additional supports as needed. Finally, PHAs should collect feedback from program enrollees to understand which areas of the program are most successful and identify any potential areas for improvement.