Editorial: Giving a real hand up

Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007 | 2:23 a.m.

With little notice or fanfare, a federal housing program has been easing people off government aid, helping them find better jobs and housing.

Take, for example, Las Vegan Robbye Wright, whose mother had depended on federal aid when she was growing up. As reported by Timothy Pratt in last Sunday's Las Vegas Sun, Wright found herself taking federal assistance as an adult. She wanted something better. She found it in the Family Self-Sufficiency program.

The federal program, run with help from local housing authorities, provides people on federal housing assistance help with job training, education, child care and transportation. Participants with substance abuse problems can get help through the program. In addition, the program offers help finding new housing and puts money away for participants to help them move or buy a home.

Wright spent her time in the program paying off debt, raising her credit score and learning about buying a home. Four years after starting the program Wright bought a home. Now she is buying another and hopes to rent the first to someone in a situation similar to the one she was in.

She also wants to set an example for her children.

"I want to show my kids - I was in the system, we needed help. But we didn't abuse it," she said.

This is a program that has had success because it helps people and teaches them what it takes to get out of debt and own a home. It is the type of program that should be expanded, but it has been underfunded. In the Las Vegas Valley, there are 170 families in the program and 300 more on a waiting list.

The program will receive $47.5 million this fiscal year for the nation, a minuscule percentage of the Housing and Urban Development Department's $36 billion budget.

A bill in Congress would increase the program's funding. Politicians, especially those on the far right, love to talk about giving people a "hand up, not a handout." If they believe that, they should support this program.