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Q&A
Project Crib pilot program for pregnant individuals
0:36:55
ยท
3 min
Commissioner Molly Wasow Park explains the Project Crib pilot program, which aims to support pregnant individuals seeking housing assistance. The program tests two different models of rental assistance.
- City FEPS vouchers are provided to some participants to help them stay out of shelter or exit quickly if needed
- Pathway Home benefit offers payments to stay with friends or family
- Eligibility includes pregnant people applying for shelter with income at or below 200% of federal poverty level
- Pathway Home provides $1,200 per month for up to one year to support costs associated with additional household members
Diana Ayala
0:36:55
Wanna recognize that council member Ng and council member Riley have joined us.
0:37:00
Regarding the crib pilot program, could you just kind of walk me through that so I'm a young person living in well, I'm a birthing person and I need housing.
0:37:14
I'm living with my mother maybe.
0:37:17
Are you encouraging me to stay with my mother, giving me the voucher and I can stay there while I look for an apartment or
Molly Wasow Park
0:37:24
So when a pregnant person applies at PATH they will be we're going to be testing a couple of different models of rental assistance for that population.
0:37:34
Some people who are enrolled in Project Crib will receive a city FEPS voucher with the hopes that they can as long as they know that their tenure should staying with family members could be a shorter one because they have rental assistance that they're able to remain out of shelter or that because if they do need to enter shelter, if they don't have a safe place to stay, that they are able to exit relatively quickly.
0:38:00
And then an additional cohort of people will get what we call our pathway home benefit which is actually a payment to stay with friends or family.
0:38:10
It's something that has been around for a while that we've used on a fairly limited basis but we think has potential real utility here.
0:38:18
Something that is very interesting to me and we alluded to in the testimony, during COVID the numbers of families with children entering the shelter system dropped really substantially, which is frankly exactly the opposite of what I thought was going to happen.
0:38:35
But I think one of the reasons that that happened is because there were really significant federal income supports and families could actually afford to stay together.
0:38:44
So we are looking to see can we support people in staying with their friends and family and that in a moment of a lot of different change associated with the birth of a child this may be the most viable option.
0:38:57
But we really don't know so we are looking to test these two different models and to see which does best help pregnant people either avoid shelter altogether or have very short shelter stays so that we minimize the number of babies born in shelter.
Diana Ayala
0:39:12
So what the qualifying factors for the subsidy part of it, the voucher?
Molly Wasow Park
0:39:17
So it'll be targeted, as I say, to pregnant people applying for shelter.
0:39:21
We do still need to qualify, income qualify, so at or below 200% of federal poverty level.
0:39:28
But other than that, we're able to have fairly flexible income or eligibility requirements.
Diana Ayala
0:39:32
So if they were living with a family member they could still qualify?
Molly Wasow Park
0:39:36
Yeah.
Diana Ayala
0:39:37
Okay.
0:39:39
And the Pathways to Home program, that is on a year to year basis?
Molly Wasow Park
0:39:47
So a month to month but one year payment specifically to stay with friends and family.
0:39:55
So with CitiFepps you have to have a lease of your own.
0:39:58
So if you receive a voucher at the point of application because you're a project a shelter application because you're a project crib participant, you might stay with your family while you search for an apartment but then ultimately you're going to have a lease of your own.
0:40:13
With Pathway Home the idea is that you actually are staying with your family and we are able to support the costs associated with having additional people in the household by paying to the primary leaseholder.
Diana Ayala
0:40:26
Is that payment consistent amongst the individuals in the program or does it vary by household?
Molly Wasow Park
0:40:31
There is a slight variation by household size but it's largely $1,200 a month.
Diana Ayala
0:40:38
Okay.
0:40:39
And that's just a month by month, right?
Molly Wasow Park
0:40:40
Yeah.
0:40:41
Mean so we pay We don't pay the full years upfront, but it's a year's worth of subsidy paid on a monthly basis.