Wayland Town Crier 11/7/11: Wayland Housing Authority restarts Family Self Sufficiency program. The Wayland Housing Authority has received a grant from the state Department of Housing and Urban Development to restart its Family Self Sufficiency (FSS) program on Section 8 housing, with the funding being used to pay the salary of program coordinator Katherine Provost. The program was shut down for a year due to lack of financial support. Under Section 8 housing, residents pay 30 percent of their earned income in rent. When a resident’s earned income increases, his or her rental payments rise accordingly. But, if they enroll in FSS, the difference between the old and new rents is placed in an escrow account. To enroll in FSS, residents have to sign a five-year contract committing to specific goals and objectives. After that, if they “graduate” from the program, Provost said, they are able to access their savings. “Ideally,” Provost said, “they would use the funds to ‘graduate’ from housing assistance as well. But realistically, the money would likely be spent on education for their children or to make car payments.” In Wayland, there are 18 Section 8 households (equating to 50 people) participating in the FSS program. Of these, six households with a total of 20 people have established savings accounts through the Wayland Housing Authority. Most of these families are headed by single mothers, Provost said.