Family Self Sufficiency Click Here for details PROGRAMS COMMUNITY PARTNERS PROPERTIES PORTALS HOME get in touch Family Self Help

Family Self Sufficiency Program Fact Sheet

What is the Family Sufficiency Program and how does it work?

FSS is a program that enables HUD-assisted families to increase their earned income and reduce their dependency on welfare assistance and rental subsidies. 
Once an eligible family is selected to participate in the program, the Public Housing Authority (Tooele County Housing Authority), and the head of each participating family execute a FSS Contract of Participation that specifies the rights and responsibilities of both parties. The term of the FSS contract is approximately 5 years, but it may be extended for another 2 years by the PHA for good cause.  
The FSS contract also incorporates the family’s individual training and services plan (ITSP). The ITSP is the document that records the plan for the family. That is, the series of intermediate and long-term goals and the steps the family needs to take – and the services and resources they may need to access – to achieve those goals.  
Some of the services that may be coordinated through the program include: child-care, transportation, education, job training, employment counseling, financial literacy, and homeownership counseling, among others. Services are generally not provided by Tooele County Housing Authority, but rather outsourced to service providers in the community.  
An interest-bearing escrow account is established by Tooele County Housing Authority for each participating family. Any increases in the family’s rent as a result of increased earned income during the family’s participation in the program result in a credit to the family’s escrow account. Once a family graduates from the program, they may access the escrow and use it for any purpose. 
In Tooele County, the FSS program is available to Housing Choice Voucher (HCV aka Section 8) program participants including Project-Based Vouchers.  
Eligible families should discuss participation in the FSS program with the Tooele County Housing Authority FSS Coordinator (Wendy Conklin) or the Tooele County Housing Authority Section 8 Program Administrator (Kim East).  
One of the basic requirements of the FSS program is execution of an FSS contract of participation between the Head of the FSS family and the Public Housing Authority (Tooele County Housing Authority). The FSS contract of participation includes the rights and responsibilities of the FSS family and Tooele County Housing Authority, the services to be provided to the family, and the activities to be completed by the family.  
The term of the FSS contract is five years from the first re-certification of income after the execution date of the Contract of Participation; however, such term may be extended for up to two more years provided the family is still actively working on goals. Participants may also successfully graduate in less than five years.
The FSS contract requires that the family comply with the lease, that all FSS family members (not just family members who elected to participate in FSS) are welfare-free at the time of graduation, and that the head of the FSS family (the same as the head of household for rent and income eligibility purposes) seek and maintain suitable employment. Noncompliance with the FSS contract without good cause may result in termination from the FSS program. Termination (or exit) from the FSS program may not result in termination of the family’s rental assistance. 
An interest-bearing account established by Tooele County Housing Authority on behalf of the FSS family where deposits are made throughout the duration of the family’s participation in the FSS program if and when a family’s rent increases as a result of increased earned income of the FSS family.
Tooele County Housing Authority may make a portion of the escrow account available to the family during the term of the contract if Tooele County Housing Authority determines that the family has fulfilled certain interim goals established in the contract and requires a portion of the FSS escrow account funds for purposes consistent with the contract of participation.  Each program sets its own policies on Interim Escrow Disbursements in their FSS Action Plan.
Generally, when the family has fulfilled all of its FSS obligations under the contract on or before the expiration of the contract and the head of the family certifies that no family member is a recipient of welfare assistance.
A FSS family will forfeit its escrow account if the contract of participation is terminated in accordance with the regulations, the family is still receiving welfare at the expiration of the contract term, or the contract was not completed at the end of the contract term.Â