Housing Authority Honors Seven SB residents

Mayor Helene Schneider, was the Keynote Speaker for this special event.

The Housing Authority’s Family Self-Sufficiency program is an initiative designed to help move families receiving housing assistance and related government subsidies to a more independent lifestyle, free of governmental assistance. Ultimately, FSS aims to help participants achieve their own personal goals and greater socio-economic advancement, including college degrees, professional careers and first time home ownership. The Housing Authority is proud to announce that this group of graduates has received over $52,087 through the FSS escrow program. To date, 207 individuals have graduated from FSS and 45 are now homeowners. From the time the families enroll in FSS to the time they graduate, families literally triple their income, saving government funding and recycling tax dollars.

To enable FSS participants to achieve self-sufficiency, the Housing Authority partners with a group of community agencies. The Program Coordinating Committee is comprised of representatives of the Department of Rehabilitation, DRB Mortgage, Rabobank, N.A., Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, Montecito Bank & Trust, SBCC Continuing Education, the Workforce Investment Center, World Financial Group, the Internal Revenue Service, and Women’s Economic Ventures (WEV).