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Politics & Government

Richfield Opens Enrollment for 'Kids at Home' Rent Assistance Program

Eligible families will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis beginning Sept. 6, 2011.

The Richfield Housing and Redevelopment Authority’s (HRA) Kids at Home (Kids @ Home) rent assistance program—a program which is designed to assist the under-served population of working households with children in Richfield schools—will be open to eligible Richfield residents for 10 days beginning Sept. 6, 2011.

Inaugurated in 2004, the 36-month program offers qualifying residents between $200 and $850 of rental assistance per month, depending on family size and time in the program.

“Once we have a number of families [who qualify], we’ll close it,” said Lynette Chambers, a program spokesperson and city staff member. “We don’t maintain a waiting list.”

The program can accommodate up to 32 families, although usually between 26 and 28 families are enrolled. After a number of households “graduated” from the program recently, the Kids at Home program currently has an atypically low 14 families enrolled, meaning that on Sept. 6 a number of openings will be available.

Kids at Home is primarily designed to provide lower-income Richfield residents with greater housing stability so that children aren’t forced to transition in and out of schools, a goal which remains the focus of city staff and counselors who work with the program.

“It’s [immediate] purpose is to keep kids in school,” said Chambers.

While designed to last 36 months, at the end of the program families may be eligible for an additional 12 to 24 months of rent assistance.

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Kids @ Home at Work 

In addition to rent assistance the Kids at Home program has a social service component; upon entering the program, participants meet with a counselor to assess their family’s needs and set long-term goals.

“A lot of families just want to be self-sufficient at the end of the program’s time,” Chambers said.

Counselors from the work with families for the program’s duration. As part of counseling internships with the city, each months students at the school will visit the homes of families receiving assistance.

Joyce Poley was a student at the Adler Graduate School and worked with the Kids at Home program for just over a year. As an intern she regularly met with 13 clients, all of whom were women. Poley’s hour-long sessions were focused on meeting each client's particular needs, from arranging for proper medical care to finding different housing or a better job.

“Sometimes it was just someone to talk to other than a 5-year-old,” Poley said.

While a few of Poley's clients may have met with her simply as a requirement of receiving rent assistance, Poley felt that, for the majority of women, meeting with a counselor was an important and appreciated part of the program.

“I though it provided a more personalized touch,” she said. "It’s more than just funding--it’s someone who comes to your home, so it became a more comprehensive program."

“That’s probably the key to some of the really good parts of our program. [Meeting with counselors] helps families set up budgets and goals,” Chambers added. "It’s not just a rental-assistance program, it’s kind of a holistic approach.”

The approach has paid off–not only has the program often helped stabilize the lives of those enrolled, Chambers reported that the Kids at Home program has helped five Richfield families become homeowners over the last several years.

The Kids at Home program has an annual budget of approximately $200,000. Money for the program is derived from a housing fund Richfield maintains with proceeds from tax increment financed (TIF) redevelopment projects such as and the .

“Those both have a 25-year commitment,” Richfield Community Development Director John Stark said about the source of the program’s funding.

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In lieu of providing affordable housing, TIF-financed redevelopment projects are required to make contributions to the housing fund. Best Buy began paying into the housing fund in 2002, meaning its contribution will continue until 2027.

“So we don’t see any problems ahead,” Stark said when asked if the Kids at Home program was adequately financed going forward.

Requirements

To qualify, working households must make less than 50 percent of the metro area’s average median income (AMI), earning between $33,600 (for a family of two) and $55,450 (for a family of eight or more). Among other requirements residents must currently have a child enrolled in Richfield K-12 schools and one parent or adult in the family working 24 hours per week. Richfield residents presently receiving other housing assistance are not eligible.

Although the program did not offer new registration over the summer in 2011, Chambers anticipated registration would open again in October. She also anticipated the city would offer a registration period during each month of the 2011-12 school year.

Interested residents may call the city from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. at 612-861-9770, ext. 1 or 2 during the registration period. Because it operates on a first-come first-served basis, residents hoping to apply are advised to act quickly. More details are attached as a PDF to this article.

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