II. Responsibilities of the Social and Rehabilitation Service of HEW

The Social and Rehabilitation Service has as a major goal the provision of aid to needy persons and families to assist them in achieving a decent minimum standard of living. Adequate housing, owned or rented, commensurate with community standards, profoundly influences such a standard. To implement a goal of decent, minimum standards, the SRS will urge and assist the States to define and adopt a minimum housing standard in their assistance programs and to provide shelter allowances and assistance payments sufficient to enable recipients to obtain and maintain adequate housing.

The Social and Rehabilitation Service, working through its Regional representatives, where appropriate, agrees to:

1. Further assist the States in Statewide and local efforts to assist welfare clients in overcoming homemaking and housing problems, and reduce the subsidizing of slums with public monies.

2. Provide more leadership, consultation, and information on housing matters to the States by use of Federal staff and by close liaison with HUD and other Federal agencies concerned with housing problems and needs of low income families and individuals.

3. Support the need for additional staff at the State level and in local units to improve housing through such measures as:

a. Planning, consultation, and coordination of housing services, in conjunction with community groups and organizations;

b. Making fuller use of available community expertise in developing low rent housing;

c. Taking measures to facilitate home ownership by recipients and improvement of homes owned by recipients;

d. Providing directly or through purchase such services as consultation and counseling, legal aid, relocation services, emergency housing services, homemaker and home management, home improvement and repairs, and other services related to solving problems.

4. In cooperation with HUD, promote research and conduct studies of housing conditions of welfare recipients, obstacles which prevent welfare recipients from obtaining adequate housing, and costs of housing available to welfare clients.

5. Give leadership and direction to State welfare departments for the development and strengthening of all types of social services along with rehabilitation programs to serve families and elderly and handicapped persons living in public housing neighborhoods. These programs may include preventive, referral, and diagnostic health services; counseling and casework; assistance with housekeeping, homemaking, and laundry; and social and educational activities. Emphasis will be placed on securing, marshalling, and effectively delivering services most needed and desired by the residents, as determined by consultation with tenants and representative tenant organizations. Utilization will be made of Federal, State, and local public resources and of private resources including volunteer services.

6. Seek to promote cooperation among local welfare departments and other local HEW constituent agencies, local renewal and housing authorities, nonprofit and cooperative housing sponsors, and health and housing code enforcement agencies, with reference to services for displaced families and tenants; tenant selection and transfer; planning, location, design and livability of housing projects; community space; and other matters affecting the living environment of persons being served.

III. Responsibilities of the Department of Housing and Urban Development

The Department of Housing and Urban Development includes in its objectives the achievement of a safe and decent living environment for every American, near his place of employment. To implement this goal, HUD, working through its Regional and Area Office staffs where appropriate agrees to:

1. Give leadership, direction, and assistance to Local Housing Authorities (LHA's) for the development and strengthening of a balanced program of social and rehabilitation services for resident families and elderly and handicapped persons.

2. Urge and assist LHA's to include on their staffs persons who, by attitude, training, and experience, understand how to work with low-income people and help them mobilize local resources, in order to reach the extent of their capacities as persons, as earners, and as citizens.

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3. Urge and assist LHA's to make constructive use of authorization to admit or continue in occupancy, as the case may be, persons not otherwise eligible for occupancy, specifically, (a) tenants employed by the LHA under a special training program, and (b) tenants, project employees, volunteers, and staff of public and private agencies, when qualified and assigned to provide tenantand neighborhood-oriented services.

4. Urge and assist LHA's to upgrade the quality of their housing management and to improve project buildings and ground; to foster meaningful tenant involvement in project management affairs and in programs designed to strengthen the self-sufficiency of tenants; and to expand project community facilities where needed to meet the requirements of the upgrading program. IV. Program of Housing-Welfare Cooperation

In order to meet more effectively their common obligations and national goals, to improve the housing conditions of welfare recipients and to insure the delivery of social and rehabilitation services to public housing residents, the two Departments will consult and work together. They will seek agreement on common policies, procedures, and implementing guidelines, and their effectuation through cooperative action and program coordination on the part of their Regional, State, Area, and local counterparts. More specifically, the two Departments agree:

1. To cooperate in developing and promulgating policies and procedures for: a. Establishing equitable rents to be paid by public assistance recipients in public housing.

b. Establishing procedures whereby tenants who are recipients of public assistance and who present serious rent delinquency problems may be brought to the attention of the public assistance agency for such services as will assist them in improving and/or solving such problems, Services such as debt counselling, budgeting, legal aid and other services that will explore causes, as well as seek remedies.

2. To promote cooperation between local welfare departments and local Housing Authorities with reference to welfare rent schedules; provision of social and rehabilitation services; referral procedures; the amount, funding, arrangement and utilization of project community space, and other matters of mutual interest including such community wide problems as security and vandalism.

3. To cooperate in establishing policies and guidelines and assisting State Welfare Departments and Local Housing Authorities in the development of local social service and rehabilitation programs in public housing, financed jointly, with the LHA funds comprising, or serving in lieu of, the State's share, to be matched by Federal funds available under the Social Security Act, as implemented by SRS policies. Such programs may include community organization, group work, casework, legal services, educational programs and child care, training in home economics, family planning, etc., but not services which relate directly to housing management.

4. To cooperate in developing model programs, making them available with appropriate guidelines, to State Welfare Departments and Local Housing Authorities, and utilizing HEW demonstration grant funds for such programs wherever possible.

5. To cooperate in the periodic evaluation of on-going programs for the purpose of improving quality of operations.

This cooperative program will be given urgent, immediate, and continuing attention by appropriate staffs, and will be expanded and implemented as rapidly as possible. All agencies concerned will consult separately and jointly with representatives of low-income groups and individuals, recipients of public assistance, low-income residents, and other appropriate individuals and organizations in the study, review, and development of policies and programs. JOHN D. TWINAME,

Administrator. NORMAN V. WATSON, Acting Assistant Secretary.

GUIDE TO STATE AGENCIES ADMINISTERING APPROVED PUBLIC ASSISTANCE AND CHILD WELFARE PLAN: ON JOINT FUNDING SOCIAL SERVICES IN PUBLIC HOUSING The purpose of this document is to explain the policies, conditions, and criteria under which contributions from Local Housing Authorities may be used to obtain 75% Federal Financial Participation (FFP) (under Titles I, IV-A,

X, XIV, or XVI of the Social Security Act) in the cost of social service units established by public welfare in public housing projects.

A. BACKGROUND

A plan to increase the availability of social services (through joint funding) and to make such services more accessible to public housing tenants (by locating social services staff in the housing projects) has been tested in States for the past several years. Among the programs in one such State are five Local Housing Authorities who participate with welfare in the joint funding of social services provided in the housing projects. These five Housing Authorities manage a total of 28,295 units. They have contributed $95,661, which, used as the State's share, has earned Federal Financial Participation of $286,984. This arrangement has enabled the State welfare agency to employ a staff of 101 to serve families in these housing projects.

The experience in all States show that improvement in family life, housekeeping standards, home management practices, and community pride and participation have been the result of the services made possible through housing-welfare cooperation. Now that some basic questions have been resolved, other States may wish to profit from State experience. The innovation suggested in this guide is the contribution by LHA of the 25 percent State's share in order to expand services.

B. POLICY CONSIDERATIONS

1. Scope and Coverage of Services

The services to be provided and the groups eligible to receive these services must be in accordance with the State's plans under the Social Security Act titles, and must meet the requirements for Statewideness. The services to be provided by welfare may not include services directly related to housing management and maintenance, which are the sole responsibility of the LHA and cannot be funded as welfare services; i.e., property upkeep, billing services, tenant instructions, etc. (This restriction should in no way inhibit the staff's working with resident with respect to management and maintenance policies.) If approved State plans do not already include the scope and coverage which are desired for the jointly funded unit; i.e., services to former, and potential as well as current recipients, the State has two alternatives:

a. Amend its plan to extend the scope and coverage.

b. Request a waiver of Statewideness for a project funded under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act.

2. Location of Program Responsibility

The responsibility for the provision of the jointly funded services rests with the public welfare agency, consistent with the single State agency principles. 3. Requirements for Federal Matching LHA Funds

The LHA contribution has been determined to represent local public funds and therefore non-Federal funds. Consequently, these funds may be used as the State's share to earn 75 percent Federal financial participation. The LHA contribution does not have to be in the form of a cash transfer to the Welfare Department. It may consist of the costs incurred by the LHA which apply to the social service activities being performed. Costs incurred means amounts actually expended by the LHA and not, for example, placing an assigned value on equipment already owned and being used.

Also when the "cost incurred" form of contribution is used, costing methods must be used which will clearly distinguish between LHA expenditures which are relevant to social services being performed for the Welfare Department and those expenditures applicable to LHA services or activities.

C. STEPS IN DEVELOPMENT OF JOINTLY FUNDED SOCIAL SERVICE UNITS IN
PUBLIC HOUSING

1. The Proposal

When a local welfare agency (DPW) and a Local Housing Authority (LHA) wish to set up a jointly funded social services program, they prepare a written proposal for using welfare staff in the housing project and/or for serving residents living in other subsidized dwellings under LHA management.

The proposal should indicate:

a. Purpose and objective of program,

b. The services to be provided and groups eligible for such services.

c. The number and composition of staff needed for the unit.

d. Duties and functions of staff, supervision, and accountability.

e. Records and reports that are to be shared jointly.

f. The anticipated budget for the proposed program reflecting financial contributions of both participants.

g. Proposed date and schedule for implementation.

h. Provide for regular conferences between management and social services staff.

i. Provision for annual review and approval of agreement by appropriate agencies, with conditions governing renewal or termination of agreement. j. Provision for an advisory committee made up of community residents and agency representatives.

2. Approvals

a. The proposal is cleared first by the LHA Board and Area and Regional HUD Offices, then sent to the State Welfare agency for review against the State plan.

b. If the State agency approves, a written agreement is drawn up providing that LHA will contribute 25% of the total expenditures incurred by DPW in setting up the unit and providing the services to LHA tenants.

3. State Plan Amendments or Application for Waiver Under Section 1115

If the proposal includes scope and/or coverage not included in the approved State plan, the State agency must submit to the SRS Regional office amendments to the State plan or a demonstration project application requesting a waiver of Statewideness requirements.

Until the amendment is approved, or the project waiver granted, the State agency is not authorized to claim Federal financial participation in the cost of the unit.

Public welfare agencies are encouraged to view such outreach social service programs in public housing as an appropriate and productive use of staff. Such programs require staff employed for this special purpose. Moreover, an unusual opportunity is provided for the use of trained paraprofessionals recruited from among the consumers of both welfare and housing.

Requests for further information or advice in initiating jointly funded programs should be addressed to the Commissioner, Community Services Administration, Social and Rehabilitation Service, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 330 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201.

Exhibit 3

1. INTRODUCTION

a. In this time of rising expectations and profound social and technological changes, it is essential that all levels of government work together to find new and better approaches to improving the quality of life and the living environments of those in greatest need.

b. Because complex housing and social problems cannot be solved nationally or by any one agency or group, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Department of Housing and Urban Development urge their staffs to work in concert with those of other agencies and organizations toward meeting the housing and social needs of low-income families and individuals more effectively.

c. In order to further the common purposes, it is highly desirable that arrangements be made for a continuing exchange of information and active cooperation between staff representatives of HEW and HUD agencies at all levels. Representatives of State and local agencies carrying programs in housing, welfare, and social rehabilitation are urged to get in touch with each other as soon as possible, in order to establish common arrangements for an exchange of concerns and for mutual assistance and cooperation.

d. Joint responsibility for ongoing coordination of policies and programs at the Federal level will be carried by a HEW-HUD Policy Committee and by SRS Housing-Welfare Representatives and HUD staff in the Regional offices.

2. PURPOSE

To instruct Local Housing Authorities (LHAS) in the policy, conditions, and criteria by which LHAs may contribute 25% of the financing of social services units in public housing to the State Department of Welfare which, in turn, may then secure 75% in Federal matching funds (under Titles I, IV-A, X, XIV or XVI of the Social Security Act.)

3. POLICY

The LHA contribution has been determined to represent local public funds and, therefore, non-Federal funds. Consequently, these funds may be used as the State's share to earn 75 percent Federal Financial Participation (FFP). The LHA contribution does not have to be in the form of a cash transfer to the Welfare Department. It may consist of the costs incurred by the LHA which apply to the social service activities being performed.

4. MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT

a. Joint Funding. The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare have developed a Memorandum of Agreement on Housing-Welfare Cooperation, authorizing the joint funding of social services in public housing. (See Appendix 1.)

b. Services. The HEW-HUD cooperative agreement makes possible the provision of specialized and in-depth multiple services needed by the large and growing low-income populations of especially the elderly, youth, and children, Ancillary services such as security, educational and vocational training, health, and recreation services, can be improved and coordinated through this cooperative program.

c. Objective. The objective of the HEW-HUD Agreement is to promote and facilitate the physical, social, and economic advancement of residents by establishing specialized services for unmet needs, increasing accessibility of community services, and coordinating all existing community social services. The purpose of a cooperative program is to provide group and individual services to residents of public housing so as to improve family and community living. Services provided should be preventive as well as rehabilitative and available to all public housing residents, including former or potential recipients of public assistance.

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5. PROCEDURES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A HEW-HUD JOINT FUNDED SOCIAL SERVICES PROGRAM

a. Plan. When an LHA in collaboration with residents has determined its interest in the cooperative program, the LHA shall contact the HUD Area Office Community Services Adviser through the Area Director to discuss a plan. Where no Area Office exists, the Regional Office Community Services Adviser shall be contacted.

b. HUD Assistance. The Area Community Services Adviser will assist the LHA staff in making contact with the executive officer of the local county welfare agency to explore the potential for joint funding of cooperative services. (The Area CSA relates to the LHA as the Executive Officer of the County Welfare Agency to the local DPW.)

c. The LHA Board will consider the proposed plan for approval.

d. If the plan is approved, the LHA and the local welfare agency shall prepare jointly a comprehensive written proposal describing the social services program. The proposal should include the following:

(1) Purpose and objectives of the program.

(2) Services to be provided.

(3) Number and composition of staff.

(4) Functional responsibilities of staff, supervision and accountability. There should be a plan for systematic meetings of the management and welfare staff to assure mutual understanding of the problems of each.

(5) Records and reports that are to be shared and available jointly.

(6) Anticipated budget for proposed program.

(7) Proposed schedule for implementation.