The Vancouver Housing Authority is offering rent aid to tenants who work in child care.
As part of a new program aimed at building up the child care workforce, the VHA won’t count wages earned from a state-licensed child care facility toward its rent calculations. The program, called the Move to Work incentive program, will exclude 100 percent of participants’ wages from rent calculations during the first year of employment and 50 percent of wages in the second year.
The program is a partnership between the VHA, nonprofit Bridgeview, ESD 112 and Support for Early Learning and Families.
“We know that prior to the pandemic there was a lack of affordable and accessible child care,” Bridgeview Executive Director Angie Sytsma said in a media release Wednesday. “We’re leveraging the lived experience and knowledge of our residents. … They understand the problem quite intimately.”
The program also involves connecting VHA residents with eligible jobs. Interested residents can contact the Bridgeview Resource Center at 360-737-2950 or their Section 8 voucher specialist.
