Sard, Barbara and Tim Harrison, Increasing Use of TANF and State Matching Funds to Provide Housing Assistance to Families Moving from Welfare to Work-2001 Supplement, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, December 3, 2001, at http://www.cbpp.org/12-3-01hous.pdf.

Sard, Barbara and Jeff Lubell, Federal Housing Programs Provide Employment Training Services to Current and Former Welfare Recipients, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, January 6, 2000, at http://www.cbpp.org/1-6-00hous.htm.

Sard, Barbara and Jeff Lubell, The Increasing Use of TANF and State Matching Funds to Provide Housing Assistance to Families Moving from Welfare to Work, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, February 2000, at www.cbpp.org/2-17-00hous.pdf.

Sard, Barbara and Shayna Strom, Funding New Welfare-to-Work Housing Vouchers Should Be a Priority for Fiscal Year 2003, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, September 10, 2002, at http://www.cbpp.org/8-28-02hous.htm.

Sard, Barbara and Margy Waller, Housing Strategies to Strengthen Welfare Policy and Support Working Families, Brookings Institution, The Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, April 2002, at http://www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/es/urban/publications/sardwallerhousingwelfare.pdf.

Smith, Courtney, Increasing Access to Housing for Low-Income Families, National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, April 2, 2002, at http://www.nga.org/center/divisions/1,1188,C_ISSUE_BRIEF^D_3551,00.html.

Swartz, Rebecca, Brian Miller, Joanna Balsamo-Lilien, and Hilary Murrish. Making Housing Work for Working Families: Building Bridges Between the Labor Market and the Housing Market, Hudson Institute, July 2001, at http://www.welfarereformer.org/housenewdescript.htm.

Swartz, Rebecca, and Brian Miller.  Welfare Reform and Housing.  Brookings Institution.  March 2002, at http://www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/wrb/publications/pb/pb16.pdf.

Wood, Michelle, Gretchen P. Locke, B. Hannah Shulevitz, Diane M. Porcari, Sandra Nolan, and Jean Amendolia, From Welfare to Work. Using HUD's Programs to Help Families in Transition , U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, March 1999, at http://www.huduser.org/publications/pdf/w2w.pdf.

Wright, David J., Ingrid Gould and Michael H. Schill, Community Development Corporation and Welfare Reform: Linkages, Roles, and Impacts, Albany, New York:  Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, and New York, New York:  New York University School of Law, Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, 2001, at http://www.rockinst.org/publications/press_releases/CDCReportPart1.pdf and http://www.rockinst.org/publications/press_releases/CDCReportPart2.pdf.

Zedlewski, Sheila Rafferty. Importance of Housing Benefits to Welfare Success,  Brookings Institution, April 2002, at http://www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/es/urban/publications/zedlewskihousingbenefit.pdf.

Resource Contacts

Brookings Institution, at http://www.brookings.edu or 202/797-6000
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, at http://www.cbpp.org or contact Barbara Sard at 202/408-1080
Fannie Mae Foundation, at http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org or 202/274-8000
Hudson Institute, at http://www.hudson.org or 317/545-1000
Joint Center for Housing Studies, at http://www.jchs.harvard.edu or 617/495-7908
National Alliance to End Homelessness, at http://www.naeh.org or contact Sharan McDonald at 202/638-1526 National Governors Association, at http://www.nga.org or contact Courtney Smith at 202/624-5300
National Coalition for the Homeless, at http://www.nationalhomeless.org or 202/737-6444
National Housing Institute, at http://www.nhi.org/ or 973/678-9060
National Low Income Housing Coalition, at http://www.nlihc.org or 202/662-1530
Urban Institute, at http://www.urban.org or contact Martha Burt at 202/833-7200
U. S. Conference of Mayors, at http://www.mayors.org/USCM/home.asp or 202/ 293-7330

What States Are Doing

New Jersey administers several programs aimed at helping low-income working families stabilize their finances, minimize financial crisis and, where feasible, become first-time home buyers. The Housing Subsidy Program provides ongoing rental assistance or one-time expenses to families that have recently left TANF for employment.  The program is designed as an incentive for working families to close their welfare cases.  Recipients that have been working for four months and receiving a TANF benefit may choose for a housing subsidy to be paid to their landlord in lieu of a welfare check. This rent subsidy is likely to be worth more than the welfare benefit, and since the program utilizes TANF MOE funds for the vouchers, the federal 60-month time clock stops.  Families contribute 40 percent of adjusted gross income and unit rents may not exceed the HUD fair market rent.  The Social Services Program for the Homeless includes $2 million in TANF funds allocated to augment services for working families with incomes up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level.  The non-recurring, short-term assistance does not exceed four months. The state also wraps $4 million in TANF funding around Section 8 vouchers.  The monies help clients utilize their Section 8 certificates and funds can be used for security deposits or other moving expenses.  Notably, the program allows payments to landlords while repairs are made to rental units for Section 8 use.  For more information, contact Barbara DeGraaf at 609/588-2160.

North Carolina initiated the TANF-Housing Pilot Project in 1999. The Division of Social Services accepted proposals from counties interested in using TANF funds for housing-specific programs. Each project required community collaboration and addressed specific needs in each locality. There were eight projects selected to receive TANF funds to provide housing support and stability services, including rental assistance, through tenant-based vouchers, and other services. Some of the counties used the funds for eviction prevention or other one-time payments to help families obtain housing. Some of the counties also provided funds to help families afford homeownership. One of the counties used funds for project-based rental assistance. For more information, contact David Prince, Economic Independence Section, at 919/733-7831.

Minnesota spent a total of $74 million in TANF funds for the Minnesota Families Affordable Rental Investment Program (MARIF) in 2000 and 2001, and $20 million for a loan to Habitat for Humanity in 2000.  MARIF participants are current or recent Minnesota Family Investment Program participants in rental and supportive housing.  Developers and service delivery systems partner to provide links and/or access to county and other community services and access to child care, transportation, employment, and schools.  Some developers utilize HUD tax credits and some participants use HUD subsidies to pay the rents.  MFIP clients also have other choices to help meet their housing needs:  the Emergency Assistance Program, Diversionary Assistance Program, Family Homeless Prevention and Assistance Program; Transitional Housing and Emergency Services Programs; and Local Intervention Grants for Self-Sufficiency. For more information, contact Pam Reinstatler, Minnesota Department of Human Services at 651/296-9407 or pam.reinstatler@state.mn.us.

Pennsylvania’s TANF-funded Housing Collaboration Initiative consists of project-based subsidies; rehabilitation; and homeownership assistance, among other benefits.  The program is open to both current and former TANF recipients.  Ten percent of the Initiative, equal to ($6 million), is devoted to expanding homeownership through mortgage loans to families with incomes below 235 percent of the poverty line.  Four million in TANF funds will be used to help develop new cooperative housing or to purchase rental properties that may become unaffordable.  For more information, contact Richard Overmoyer, Department of Community and Economic Development, at 717/720-1373 or rovermoyer@state.pa.us

  WIN Staff Contact:  Kelley O’Dell, kodell@financeproject.or