Local housing alliance one of 30 to join federal program

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) - Help from Washington is on the way to Pocatello.

The Housing Alliance and Community Partnership in Pocatello was recently selected as one of 30 city housing authorities across the nation to join Moving to Work, a federal assistance program for low-income families.

"We are able to along with community partners create a program that is tailored to the needs of Pocatello," said Executive Director Sunny Shaw.

The Moving to Work program will help build self-sufficiency and homeownership in the Pocatello community, while also establishing emergency services to the homeless. The program also incentives tenants to gain employment for skilled labor positions.

"It’s anticipated that within the next 10 years, there will be a large number of vacant jobs, simply because we do not have skilled labor workers here in Pocatello," Shaw said. "One of the things that this program can do is offer incentives to households who are interested to move into the labor market, and eventually off of subsidized programs."

For Shaw, she hopes the program will set up families in the Pocatello community for a brighter future.

"They're able to move into self-sufficiency in setting that example for their entire families of what self-sufficiency would look like." Shaw said. "We believe that this can have a huge generational impact for these families."

Shaw says the full implementation of the program will take place at the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1.