$20 Million Made Available in New Housing Vouchers for Child Welfare Families and Youth in Transition
County child welfare agencies have an opportunity to partner with their public housing authorities to apply for a grant under the $20 million just made available by the new Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers for the Family Unification Program (FUP). FUP provides homeless and poorly housed families involved with the child welfare system with decent and affordable housing and supportive services in order to safely reunite them with their children. FUP vouchers are also available to prevent homelessness among former foster youth. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued the 2008 Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) inviting public housing authorities nationwide to apply for these grants on November 24.
How does our community apply for new FUP vouchers?
The notice invites public housing authorities (PHAs) to apply for up to 100 Section 8 vouchers for FUP. You can access the NOFA on the Federal Register's website by clicking here or by visiting the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare (NCHCW) website at www.nchcw.org. The NCHCW website also includes examples of supporting documentation needed to submit with the application. In order to apply for this funding, a Public Housing Authority must have a signed Memorandum of Understanding with the public child welfare agency documenting that these systems will work in partnership to support FUP families and youth. PHAs will have until Jan. 28th 2009 to submit an application.
Why should we apply for FUP?
Families and aging-out youth in the child welfare system face many economic challenges. Child welfare agencies work to remediate these issues and as a result, the majority of children reunite safely and successfully with their parents. However, nearly a third of the 500,000 children in the foster care system remain separated from their parents because the family lacks safe, decent housing. Keeping these children in foster care rather than providing affordable housing is a costly practice. On average, it costs nearly $48,000 per family for children to enter foster care. By contrast, it costs just over $15,000 annually to house one family and provide supportive services to support their stability in housing.
How does FUP work?
HUD's Family Unification Program (FUP) is administered through local level partnerships between public housing authorities and public child welfare agencies. PHAs administer FUP Section 8 vouchers to families and youth who have been certified as eligible for FUP by the public child welfare agency (PCWA). The child welfare agency assists clients in gathering the necessary Section 8 paperwork and provides services to help the household obtain and maintain safe, stable and permanent housing.
How can I get more information about FUP?
For more information about how to apply for and implement FUP your community, please visit www.nchcw.org. NCHCW serves as a bridge between affordable housing resources and the child welfare system on behalf of vulnerable families and youth and professional staff and advocates with whom they work. NCHCW builds public housing and child welfare agency partnerships in to ensure that children do not enter or linger needlessly in foster care due to affordable housing problems. NCHCW aims to ensure that each young person who transitions out of the foster care system has a solid plan for housing stability.
