Self Sufficiency Programs

One of the JCHA's primary strategic goals is to promote and support resident self-sufficiency. This goal states that the JCHA will:

"Increase the proportion of working families throughout the JCHA public and assisted housing communities and will do so by promoting and supporting residents efforts to gain, sustain and improve employment, first targeting residents at the Curries Woods revitalization site and new communities and then expanding to the other existing public housing communities."

The JCHA has and will continue creatively leverages its existing resources and aggressively pursues new sources of funding in order to develop employment opportunities for residents.

The following describes some of the programs, opportunities and policies that encourage residents to find and stay with decent, sustaining employment and to advance in their jobs.

Section 3 Employment

• Aggressive enforcement of HUD's requirement that contractors employ residents and other low-income area residents in construction work at public housing communities.

• HOPE VI-funded Section 3 Officer coordinates recruitment and encourages longer term work for residents already experienced with Section 3 employment.

• Jobs range from skilled trades to laborers to security, and in duration from a few weeks to a few months.

JCHA Resident Employment

• A long-standing hiring preference for public housing residents;

• Currently almost one-half of all JCHA staff (inclusive of TAB and RMC positions) are current or former residents;

• Resident employees serve in clerical, maintenance, skilled, managerial and administrative positions.

Social Service Liaison

• Addresses residents' drug use and other criminal-related problems and/or non-payment of rent; Referrals to local social service program in the area to prevent the necessity of the more punitive approach of eviction.

Policies that Support Self-Sufficiency

In addition to the above described programs and services, the JCHA has and will implement rent and admission policies that support and encourage resident's efforts to move from "welfare to work" and from underemployment to sustaining employment.

• Income Disregards: New income from new employment will not be considered in determining a family's rent in order to encourage residents to become employed, participate in training programs and move away from welfare. In the first year, 100% of the new income will be "disregarded" and in the second year, the family's rent may be increased by no more than 50%.

• Admission and Transfer Preferences: Preferences in both residents admissions and transfers are given to applicant and resident families who are or have been working.