June is National Homeownership Month

NAHRO joins in celebrating National Homeownership Month this June. NAHRO member agencies continue to provide resources to their residents to assist them on the path to homeownership. Here are just a few examples:

• The District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) recently opened a one-stop shop for its Family Self Sufficiency (FSS) program. The Frederick Douglass Family Self-Sufficiency Center was renovated to house the multitude of services that help DCHA customers reach their individual goals in the DCHA Pathways of Self-Sufficiency: education, employment, and homeownership. The center houses service coordinators who work directly with DCHA customers, as well as D.C. residents, to connect them to innovative strategies, programs, and services that already exist in the local community, such as credit counseling, financial literacy training, and homeownership preparation.
• After an abrupt and unanticipated conclusion of its in-person homeownership program due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Columbia Housing in South Carolina launched Homeownership Goes Virtual. The Homeownership Goes Virtual initiative promotes sustainable homeownership by providing home buying, budgeting, credit, and home and yard maintenance educational opportunities for Columbia Housing’s residents, program participants, and the general public.
• The Los Angeles County Development Authority’s (LACDA) Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Program links residents with a case manager who helps clients develop a plan to increase income with tools such as training, education, and financial literacy. Each client is expected to meet their goals in five years. Since Jan. 1, 2017, the agency expanded its outreach efforts by implementing New Resident Services Orientations, creating a special FSS website with resources for its participants, and utilizing the agency’s social media platforms to highlight the FSS Program and the success of its participants. To date, the FSS team has enrolled 332 new clients.

If you have a project or program that helps residents reach homeownership and want to share with NAHRO please contact Libby Miller at lmiller@nahro.org.