The 50058 Family Report is a form that HUD requires be completed for households in the public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs to provide a record of certain transactions, such as admission, reexaminations of income, and exit from assistance.
Under HUD program rules, all assisted families must periodically have their income reexamined for purposes of determining their continued eligibility for assistance and required contribution to rent. An annual reexamination is the reexamination of income that occurs once a year. An interim reexamination is a reexamination of income that takes place in between annual reexaminations when earnings change.
Assets are things that you own that have value. Examples include savings, a car, a house, stocks and bonds.
Career Pathways is a strategy that is now being employed to address some of the shortcomings of past education and job training efforts. Career Pathways programs have the following essential features:
Case management software is software that provides an automated way of keeping track of your meetings with clients and their progress in achieving their goals.
An FSS coordinator’s caseload is the number of FSS participants assigned to work with that coordinator in the FSS program.
A client-centered approach is an approach to providing case management, coaching, and service coordination services whereby individual FSS participants are encouraged to make their own decisions about their goals and how to achieve them. When using a client-centered approach, the FSS program coordinator does not force his or her own belief system on the participant.
Co-Active Coaching is a coaching method, based on the Co-Active Model, in which coaches work from the assumption that people are naturally creative, resourceful, and capable of overcoming their own challenges. Using tools developed specifically for the Co-Active Model, this method of coaching harnesses both relationships (connection, intimacy, and collaboration) and action (power and direction) to empower program participants to accomplish their goals. For more information on the Co-Active Model, visit the for Coaches Training Institute’s webpage, which offers trainings and a free webinar: http://www.thecoaches.com/why-cti/what-is-co-active
The Contract of Participation (HUD-52650) describes the rights and responsibilities of the FSS participant and the organization administering the FSS program.
An evidence-based approach or practice is a specific technique or intervention model shown to have positive effects on outcomes through rigorous evaluation.
Executive skills (also known as executive function skills) are the basic skills that people need to manage themselves and their resources in order to achieve a goal. Executive skills can be grouped into three categories:
The Fair Market Rent is a benchmark set by HUD for each metropolitan area and nonmetropolitan county that is used as part of the determination of rent subsidy levels in the Housing Choice Voucher program, as well as for other purposes.
The Family Self-Sufficiency Program (FSS) is a voluntary program for households enrolled in the public housing, Housing Choice Voucher, or project-based Section 8 programs that helps them increase their earnings and build financial capability and assets.
Financial Capability is the know-how and resources to make good financial decisions.
Every PHA or owner that wishes to operate an FSS program must submit an FSS Action Plan to HUD for approval. The Action Plan describes the policies and procedures applicable to the FSS program. The requirements and components of the Action Plan are detailed in 24 CFR §984.201 and HUD Office of Housing Notice H-2016-08.
The FSS Addendum is a form that must be filled out at least annually for all FSS participants in public housing or the Housing Choice Voucher program. It is part of the larger 50058 Family Report that HUD uses to monitor these programs. The FSS Addendum provides HUD with important information about a household’s participation in FSS, including their escrow contributions.
The FSS escrow account is an account maintained by the PHA or owner on behalf of FSS participants. Participants build savings in the escrow account as their earnings increase.
The FSS program coordinator is the principal front-line staff responsible for program implementation. FSS coordinators coach program participants, conduct needs assessments, provide referrals to services and trainings, and help participants stay on track to achieve their goals. FSS coordinators also maintain program records, build partnerships with service providers, report on program outcomes, and perform other tasks as required.
HUD-assisted multifamily FSS programs are required to submit quarterly reports providing HUD with important information about FSS participants.
Guided imagery is a technique in which a trained practitioner engages a client to generate mental images that evoke other sensory experiences (i.e., smell, sound, touch, and taste). It can be used in the context of FSS to guide participants in imagining their goals and ideal futures.
The Head of Household is the adult member of a HUD-assisted family that is identified as the head of the household for purposes of determining income eligibility and rent.
A HUD-certified housing counseling agency is an agency that HUD has approved for providing housing counseling services. For more information, visit https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/housing-counseling/
An individual development account (IDA) is a matched savings account established to create incentives for participants to build savings. Many IDA programs are funded through the federal Assets for Independence (AFI) program. For information on AFI, visit: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/ocs/programs/afi/about. CFED (a private nonprofit organization) maintains an online directory of IDA programs, available here: http://cfed.org/programs/idas/directory_search/.
The Individual Training & Services Plan (ITSP) is part of the Contract of Participation entered into between the FSS participant and the PHA or owner. The ITSP describes: (1) the individual goals of the FSS participant, including but not limited to the two required goals; (2) the services to be provided to the participant, (3) the activities and the steps that he or she will take, and (4) the estimated, agreed-upon completion dates for services and activities.
An interim disbursement is the distribution prior to graduation of a portion of an FSS participant’s accrued escrow deposits that a PHA or owner approves to help the participant accomplish its goals.
The PIH Inventory Management System (IMS) is an electronic system that housing agencies use to provide reports to HUD about the households living in public housing and the Housing Choice Voucher program as well as other important program information. IMS is the successor to the PIH Information Center (PIC), which served a similar function. During a three-year transition period from PIC to IMS, the system is being referenced as IMS/PIC.
The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) is one of the major sources of funding for the development of new or rehabilitated affordable rental housing and the preservation of existing subsidized rental housing. The LIHTC program is overseen by state (and in some cases local) housing finance agencies, based on rules issued by the Internal Revenue Service. It is not a HUD program.
Market-rate rental housing is housing that rents at levels determined by the open market, rather than by the rules of a housing subsidy program.
Motivational Interviewing is an evidence-based practice that case managers or coaches can use to learn more about an FSS participant’s situation and help them set and make progress toward their goals. This technique, for which specific training is available, centers on four core principles:
For further information on Motivational Interviewing practice and trainings, see:
For purposes of this training, a multifamily owner is an owner of a HUD-assisted multifamily development with a project-based Section 8 contract.
Outcomes are the longer-term changes that follow an activity, such as obtaining a promotion or pay increase.
Outputs are the immediate results that indicate completion of a task, such as finishing a training program.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defines personally identifiable information as: "information which can be used to distinguish or trace an individual's identity, such as their name, social security number, biometric records, etc. alone, or when combined with other personal or identifying information which is linked or linkable to a specific individual, such as date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, etc."
Portability refers to the ability of an eligible family that has been issued a Housing Choice Voucher to use that voucher to lease a unit anywhere in the United States where there is a housing agency operating a Housing Choice Voucher program.
The Program Coordinating Committee (PCC) is a group of service providers and other key partners organized for the purpose of coordinating services and programs in the community for FSS participants. The group meets periodically to provide guidance to the FSS program and ensure that FSS participants have access to the resources needed to meet their goals.PHAs are required to have a PCC. Multifamily owners are not required to have a PCC, but may establish one if they wish.
Project-based Section 8 assistance is a form of HUD assistance administered by the Office of Housing. It does not include Project-Based Vouchers, which are a form of Housing Choice Vouchers administered by the Office of Public and Indian Housing.
For purposes of this training, a public housing agency is an agency that administers public housing and/or the Housing Choice Voucher program.
Certain multifamily housing developments are required to maintain “residual receipts” accounts. Owners with residual receipts accounts may apply to HUD to use these funds for FSS coordinators and other program expenses. For a full definition of “residual receipts,” see Chapter 25 of HUD Handbook 4350.1 Rev. 1, available here: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=DOC_35309.pdf
In the context of FSS, a selection preference is a policy that gives certain households a preference for admission to FSS. When enrolling new participants in the program, PHAs may give a selection preference for up to 50 percent of their FSS slots to families with a member already enrolled in, or currently on the waiting list for, an FSS-related service program.
This selection preference includes FSS families that are porting in, as they would already be participating in the FSS program and thus meet the standard.
Subsidized housing is housing in which rents are below-market levels due to a subsidy from a government body. For purposes of this training, unless otherwise defined, subsidized housing refers to public housing, project-based Section 8 assistance or housing that is assisted through a Housing Choice Voucher.
The SMART Acronym is a useful tool for identifying actionable goals. The acronym reminds us to set goals that are Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic, and Time-bound:
In FSS, the head of household is required to “seek and maintain suitable employment. According to 24 CFR Part 984.303(b)(4)(iii): “A determination of suitable employment shall be made by the PHA based on the skills, education, and job training of the individual that has been designated the head of the FSS family, and based on the available job opportunities within the jurisdiction served by the PHA.”
Trauma-informed care is an approach to working with clients in which coaches or case managers recognize the widespread impacts that past experiences of trauma – whether isolated incidents or consistent exposure – can have on every facet of a person’s life.
For further information on trauma-informed care, visit the following:
As stated in 24 CFR §984.103:
Welfare assistance means (for purposes of the FSS program only) income assistance from Federal or State welfare programs, and includes only cash maintenance payments designed to meet a family's ongoing basic needs. Welfare assistance does not include:
(1) Nonrecurrent, short-term benefits that:
(i.) Are designed to deal with a specific crisis situation or episode of need;
(ii.) Are not intended to meet recurrent or ongoing needs; and
(iii.) Will not extend beyond four months.
(2) Work subsidies (i.e., payments to employers or third parties to help cover the costs of employee wages, benefits, supervision, and training);
(3) Supportive services such as child care and transportation provided to families who are employed;
(4) Refundable earned income tax credits;
(5) Contributions to, and distributions from, Individual Development Accounts under TANF;
(6) Services such as counseling, case management, peer support, child care information and referral, transitional services, job retention, job advancement and other employment-related services that do not provide basic income support;
(7) Transportation benefits provided under a Job Access or Reverse Commute project, pursuant to section 404(k) of the Social Security Act, to an individual who is not otherwise receiving assistance;
(8) Amounts solely directed to meeting housing expenses;
(9) Amounts for health care;
(10) Food stamps and emergency rental and utilities assistance; and
(11) SSI, SSDI, or Social Security.
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