Family earns housing self-sufficiency award

Luis Alfredo Reyes and his family relied some on the Housing Authority of the City of Yuma to help them fulfill their dream of moving out of public housing and into a home of their own.

But the family also had to depend on themselves to achieve the American dream.

To recognize the Reyes family for their accomplishment, the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials recently named the family the 2011 Participant of the Year for the Family Self-Sufficiency program.

The annual award is presented to families that demonstrate perseverance and commitment to leave public housing to acquire homeownership.

Reyes, his wife, Guadalupe, and their four children moved in July 2010 to their new home in the Las Estrellas subdivision in Somerton.

HACY nominated the Reyes family for the national award based on the dedication they had shown in the Family Self-Sufficiency program offered through the local agency, according to HACY officials.

HACY tenants who enroll in the program receive counseling about credit and savings, as well as referrals for continuing education or job training that can lead to employment opportunities and ultimately self-sufficiency.

Participants are placed on a five-year timetable to make the move out of subsidized housing and into their own home, but the Reyes family made the transition well before the end of that period, according to Diana Munoz, community services coordinator for HACY.

Through counseling and other help from the program, the family's escrow savings total reached almost $8,000. These funds were leveraged or matched for a total down payment of $22,976.

“It's a very worthwhile program,” Guadalupe Reyes said. “It was of great help to us.”