15 Families–moved from renting to home ownership with HRA help

15 fAmilies

moved from renting to

home ownership with Hra help

The Rice County Housing and Redevelopment This year, the HRA made the decision to transition some of its SecAuthority administers housing programs for tion 8 vouchers to project-based vouchers, which allows the HRA to Rice County with the mission of providing allocate vouchers to specific properties through a competitive request decent, safe, and affordable housing. for proposal process. The benefit of project-based vouchers is that it

The HRA allows the HRA to incentivize the development of affordable housing administers using existing funding from the Department of Housing and Urban several rent- Development. al assistance The HRA awarded its first project-based vouchers to Three Rivers programs, Community Action Center for an affordable housing development includ- in Northfield. The vouchers are contingent on Three Rivers being ing the Section 8 Housing Choice awarded tax credit funding by the state of Minnesota. Voucher program, Mainstream The HRA also has a homeownership option as part of the Section 8 voucher and Bridges, a state-funded program, which allows Section 8 participants to convert their existing rental assistance program for adults rental assistance voucher to a home ownership voucher, so rather with a serious mental illness. The than assisting the participant with their monthly rental costs, the HRA also administers a Permanent participant secures their own mortgage for a home and the HRA subSupportive Housing grant with sidizes their monthly payment. To date, 15 families have transitioned the Community Action Center of from rental assistance to home ownership. Northfield. Over the past year, the HRA took part in a learning cohort through The Section 8 program is the largest program the HRA administers. Guest Columnist the National Association of Counties and County Health Rankings and Roadmaps; Rice County’s team was made up of the HRA, Rice It is an income-based rental assistance Joy Watson County Public Health and Rice County Commissioner Galen Maleprogram that subsidizes rent for fami- cha. lies who earn less than 50% of the area median income, $41,200 for The team spent almost a year with 11 other teams from around the a family of four. Because the HRA has a limited number of Section 8 country focused on housing as a social determinant of health and vouchers available, it maintains a waiting list. The waiting was open resources available to rural communities. The cohort has been invalufrom August 31 to September 18, 2020; the last time the waiting list able during COVID-19 because it has provided information about was open was 2017. Due to COVID, the HRA made the decision to best practices and leveraging resources . As we go in to 2021, the HRA transition to an online waiting list system. Applicants completed the will use that knowledge as we continue to navigate the pandemic and application form online and then submitted proof that they live or serve the community. work in Rice County. Joy Watson is executive director of the Rice County Housing and Redevelopment Authority. PROGRESS