PIH Notice 2011-51: Promoting Partnerships to Utilize Housing as a Platform for Improving Quality of Life

Summary:  HUD’s notice outlines for Community Planning and Development (CPD) and Public and Indian Housing (PIH) grantees, including Public Housing Agencies (PHAs), suggested ways in which to forge partnerships with public and private agencies at the federal, state, and local levels to promote resident connections to health care, education, employment, and other social services in an effort to improve quality of life and provide a foundation for successful housing outcomes.  While the guidance delivered in this notice is not meant by HUD to be exhaustive, it does include a number of resources and tools for strengthening such partnerships.  

HUD’s notice makes no mention of significant reductions in PHAs’ funding sources available for operations including the coordination of services described in the notice.  Instead HUD’s notice states, “Many PHAs and grantees throughout the country are already engaged in such partnerships with health care, educational, and social service organizations to connect program participants with needed services. HUD encourages PHAs and grantees to develop and strengthen such collaborations where possible, and recognizes the value in these coordinated efforts and the impact they can have in helping assisted households receive needed services and move toward self-sufficiency. The benefits of collaboration are experienced by both PHAs and grantees and the households they serve. In a challenging economic climate, such collaboration can result in the more effective use of public resources, reduced duplication of efforts, and greater success of program participants. Collaborative approaches to supporting vulnerable populations can also increase understanding of the interrelationships among funding streams; advance appropriate place-based and systems-level responses; increase awareness of community needs; and involve key stakeholders in the development of relevant recommendations about service improvement. Ultimately, the linking of housing and supportive services results in more stable households and communities, less property damage, fewer evictions and turn-overs, and in cases where employment is possible, an increase in rent revenues.”

Date of Publication:  September 20, 2011

View the notice here.