Commentary: HUD’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program: Lessons for its Future

Arthur Acolin
University of Washington

Susan Wachter
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

The Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program was established in 1990 to be administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The key objective of the FSS program is to promote increased earnings and savings for households participating in HUD-assisted rental housing programs to support these households in attaining economic security, with participants expected to graduate from the program within 5 to 7 years (CBPP, 2020). Since the initiation of this program, public housing agencies (PHAs) and their partners have developed a range of initiatives to achieve these goals that include (1) personal guidance through case management and financial coaching services and (2) financial incentives to save. The program has evolved through the years, including expanding to include Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA), with HUD supporting technical assistance and developing a performance measurement system to examine implementation outcomes. As of 2020, about 700 PHAs had received FSS coordinator funding (out of more than 3,300 PHAs) (CBPP, 2020) and as of 2023, 97 PBRA properties received FSS funding (Cramer and McCarthy, 2025). The current level of funding is expected to support approximately 83,000 families, an increase of 20 percent during 10 years, which is substantial program growth but still serves only a small portion of the 4.3 million families participating in HUD’s assisted rental housing programs.