Housing Counseling Programs
Broadening Housing Opportunity : Regional Mobility Program
The story of mobility in assisted housing is, mainly, a story of families. Very poor families, from neighborhoods where most people are poor, crime is rampant, jobs are scarce, and schools struggle with inadequate resources, choose to move to neighborhoods where they can feel safe, where jobs are more plentiful, and schools more effective. For many such families, this move may be a step toward self-sufficiency. Housing Mobility : Realizing the Promise.*

HOME, Inc. operates its Housing Counseling and Regional Mobility Programs under contracts with the City of New Haven and the State of Connecticut, and collaborates closely with the City's Housing Authority. These programs seek to maximize the use of available housing subsidies and to offer housing opportunities in outlying areas of the City or its suburbs in the surrounding 15-town region. Participation is purely voluntary, for both the resident and the eventual landlord. HOME, Inc. assists participants by maintaining a list of available homes, preparing them for their search, orienting them to available services, helping them resolve outstanding credit problems, and assisting landlords with government programs. The programs' successful participants have told us that they are proud of their new homes and are very happy that their children are getting the opportunity for a better quality of life.

Sidebar :
Available research, still too limited to be definitive, suggests that, for children in particular, the move can be a giant step, enabling them to achieve in school and as adults. Housing Mobility : Realizing the Promise*

Board of Education Relocation Program
Through its School Construction Program, New Haven's Board of Education will be requiring dozens of families to move from their homes and businesses over the next 18 months. HOME, Inc. has been hired by the Board to assist the City of New Haven in carrying out state-required relocation activities, including identifying new homes and providing moving assistance and benefit payments. In addition, HOME INC will take this opportunity to counsel affected families about regional housing opportunities, including areas in non-traditional areas that the affected families may not have considered.

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*The book's full title is "Housing Mobility : Realizing the Promise. Report from the Second National Conference on Assisted Housing Mobility. Margery Austin Turner and Kale Williams. The Urban Institute, January 1998."