The Compass FSS program provided one-on-one financial coaching to help HCV recipients make progress toward their self-identified financial goals, which could include paying down debt, increasing savings, or improving credit scores. The program also created an incentive for participants to meet their goals. When families with HCVs received an increase in earnings, they were required to pay 30 percent of that increase toward rent. The FSS program credited these additional rent payments toward an escrow account that the participant could receive in full after meeting certain conditions. The conditions were that (1) the participant was employed, (2) all household members were free of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families support for at least 12 months, and (3) the participant met the goals that they had set with their coach. Participants were involved with the program for one to six years.
This program was operated at public housing agencies in Lynn, MA, and Cambridge, MA.
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