Greenville Housing Authority llaunches a learn your way to Home Ownership Program
- Charles Reams
- Jul 27
- 3 min read
in Greenville. Photo by Megan Fitzgerald
The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has approved this new program for Greenville, aimed at low-income families achieving self-sufficiency through education and implementation of lessons learned.
The housing agency participates in the Moving to Work demonstration program administered by HUD.
The program allows The Greenville Housing Authority to develop new strategies on how to provide housing assistance to low-income families.
A new strategy focuses on empowering low-income families to graduate from the Housing Choice Voucher Program. HUD recently gave final approval to the housing agency’s Moving to Work program, which incorporates the new family self-sufficiency strategy.
Terril Bates, CEO of The Greenville Housing Authority, said the housing agency has historically not provided incentives for families to leave the voucher program. This causes less movement within the program and creates a backlog of people seeking housing assistance.
“When the housing authority opens a waitlist, we might get 10,000 applications in just a few days,” Bates said. “We’re not able to help as many people.”
The new Moving to Work program aims to help participants increase their household earnings so that they no longer need housing assistance from the housing authority. Program participants will be incentivized to learn financial skills, enhance their education, become employed, and secure home ownership to achieve financial self-sufficiency.
The Greenville Housing Authority piloted the new program with 170 participants over the past nine months using private funding. Bates said HUD will not provide additional funding for the Moving to Work program. Instead, the housing agency can repurpose funding allocated to the Housing Choice Voucher Program and submit regulatory waivers.
Approximately 1,700 families in The Greenville Housing Authority’s voucher program will participate in the new, mandatory program. Elderly and disabled individuals are exempt from participation. Each participant must select one of the four success pathways:
Pathway One: Participants will receive four years of rental assistance while they engage in financial education and coaching to work toward self-sufficiency.
Pathway Two: Participants will receive up to six years of rental assistance while they engage in continued education, such as earning certifications, GEDs or advanced degrees.
Pathway Three: Participants receive seven years of rental assistance and must obtain and retain employment, improve their credit scores, open checking or savings accounts, increase their incomes, or become entrepreneurs.
Pathway Four: Participants receive 10 years of rental assistance while they engage in homeownership preparation activities, with a goal for each participant to be able to purchase a home at the end of the period.
All participants are also required to complete annual progress meetings and engage in coaching activities, financial education, a workshop or a goal group. The Greenville Housing Authority will work with local organizations to implement the new Moving to Work program, including USC Upstate, the Greenville Chamber of Commerce, the United Way, the Greenville Literacy Association, Goodwill Industries of Upstate/Midlands South Carolina, Able South Carolina, SC Works and Hollingsworth Funds.
“(Moving to Work) creates a path to independence,” Bates said. “It doesn’t eliminate affordable housing needs, but it creates opportunities for people to succeed in life. This ultimately leads to a stronger and better Greenville.”
For more information, visit tgha.net/moving-to-work-family-self-sufficiency.
Landlord incentives
The Greenville Housing Authority joined the Landlord Incentives cohort of the Moving to Work program in 2021. The initiative aims to attract and retain landlords in the Housing Choice Voucher Program with financial and administrative incentives.
“This is to try to encourage more options for people to be able to use their vouchers,” said Terril Bates, CEO of The Greenville Housing Authority. “The vouchers are used in private landlord’s property. We pay about $30 million a year to private landlords in Greenville.”
Moving to Work
The Moving to Work demonstration program was established by the federal government in 1996. More than 140 public housing agencies nationwide have been accepted into the programs.
