TBRA Program: 5 Years of Providing
Opportunity and Growth
For the 267 clients assisted to date, the Tenant Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) program has worked to provide the opportunity for clients to live in safe, affordable housing of their choosing. The program’s first client, an elderly woman who had lived in her apartment for 17 years, had just reached the point where she was unable to afford the rent on her fixed income. Thanks to the assistance provided through the TBRA program, she was able to remain in the apartment that had become her home for the final years of her life. Five years later, our 267th client is a single mother who had been employed fulltime until she was diagnosed with a life threatening illness that later confined her to a wheelchair. Shortly following her diagnosis, the Social Service Department staff of the Alaska Native Medical Center contacted the TBRA program about this family’s need for housing assistance, and a mere three weeks later the family has moved into a safe, affordable and fully handicapped accessible apartment. Having met her family’s housing needs, this tenant can now fully concentrate on her recovery efforts.
The Tenant Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) Program is designed to provide rental assistance funds to Alaska Native/American Indian families, effectively reducing their monthly rent to an affordable level of 30% of their household income. Individual participation in the program is limited to a total of five years.
Program participants may choose from all available rental units in Anchorage, subject to some limitations. The family must be able to fulfill the requirements of the lease, including acceptable past landlord references. Participant household annual income may not exceed 60% of area median income, adjusted for family size. In addition, a rental unit occupied by a participating client must meet Housing Quality Standards (HQS) established by CIHA at initial occupancy and throughout the term of the tenancy.
To build a foundation for self sufficiency and future success, families in the TBRA program, with the exception of elder participants, are required to actively engage in the Family Self Sufficiency (FSS) program. This program works with families to achieve short term, realistic objectives that will aid in the achievement of long term goals, including completion of education, specific job training, job counseling or placement services and future home purchases. Further, TBRA recipients attend financial literacy classes on issues such as credit and budgeting.
A second component of the FSS program is an escrow account. Families in the program that achieve an increase in income experience a subsequent increase in their portion of the rent. As a result, CIHA sets the amount of subsidy saved into an escrow account that families are able to use toward the future purchase of a home after successful completion of the FSS program. Cook Inlet Housing Authority is proud to share that two former TBRA recipient families have already purchased homes using these FSS Escrow funds.
Additionally, The TBRA program designates 10 vouchers for the purpose of Temporary Medical needs, recognizing that families may only require rental assistance for short periods of time based on a medical issue. Eligible participants include families relocating to Anchorage for medical assistance or those experiencing a loss of household income due to a short term medical condition. Since program inception, CIHA has assisted over 30 families in this capacity.
Through increased coordination with local shelters and social service programs, Cook Inlet Housing Authority has been successful at connecting TBRA program services with the families most in need of assistance. Further, this coordination has been shown to improve the success rates of TBRA clients who are transitioning from various non-traditional living arrangements, including treatment facilities and shelters, to independent living through the mutual efforts to meet our clients needs.
Undoubtedly, of the many lessons learned over the 5 years Cook Inlet Housing Authority has provided TBRA assistance to clients, the most valuable is this: TBRA offers more than temporary housing assistance to clients. Rather, we have the opportunity, and responsibility, to assist in building a foundation for self-sufficiency that lasts a lifetime.