Moving to Work Program
The Housing Authority of the County of Santa Clara (HACSC) is fortunate to have been selected in 2008 as a Moving to Work (MTW) Demonstration Program site. The three major goals of the MTW program, as defined by Congress when the program was created in 1996, are to:
• increase the cost effectiveness of housing assistance programs,
• promote participant self-sufficiency, and
• expand housing options for program participants.
MTW agencies, through multi-year agreements with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), are able to pursue these goals and innovate at the local level through budget and regulatory flexibility, including the authorization to develop policies that are outside the limitations of certain HUD regulations and provisions of the Housing Act of 1937.
HACSC is currently in its second full year of a ten-year MTW agreement. HACSC has thus far focused primarily on streamlining day-to-day program procedures in the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program.
The approved 2010 MTW Annual Plan outlines the continuation of program changes launched in the first year and creates a few modest additions. Taken together, these actions, called "Activities" in the plan document, aim to create more efficient programs, to build HACSC's capacity for effective innovation, and to evaluate new services in support of the broader MTW goals.
HACSC has prepared for public review a Draft 2011 MTW Annual Plan. This draft Plan covers the agency’s 2011 fiscal year (July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011). Information about the plan and the opportunity for public review and comment on the plan is available here.
HACSC's philosophy in creating and carrying out its MTW goals includes two core values. The first core value is to work collaboratively with all of its stakeholders, including tenants, property owners, community constituencies, and other potential partners, and to be sensitive and highly responsive to their diverse needs. Special consideration will be given to the needs of low-, very low-, and extremely low-income families who are current or prospective recipients of housing assistance.
The second core value of HACSC's MTW planning process is to create a superior business model for its operations, with a consistent focus on enhancing its financial sustainability, while ensuring and expanding the resources available for its programs that will support the affordable housing needs of low-income residents of Santa Clara County over the long-term.
For more background on the MTW program, including a list of all housing authorities currently designated as MTW Demonstration sites, please visit: http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/programs/ph/mtw/