FCC Works to Increase Broadband Subscribership in Federal Housing

Over 10 million people living in 5.2 million households rely on some form of federal rental assistance. Every household that receives federal public housing assistance is eligible to participate in the Federal Communications Commission's Lifeline program and, by extension, the FCC's Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). But as of July 1, just over 518,000 ACP-enrolled households indicated they were eligible because they participate in federal public housing assistance. To improve awareness of and enrollment in the Affordable Connectivity Program by people receiving federal public housing assistance, the FCC is launching a new pilot program called Your Home, Your Internet. The FCC is setting aside $10 million for Your Home, Your Internet, including: 1) $5 million for grants to up to 20 pilot participants, which may include government entities and third-party organizations serving federal housing assistance recipients, from across the country and 2) $5 million for the FCC's own outreach activities and potential collaboration with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and other federal agency partners that work directly with federal housing assistance recipients. The goal is to reach and connect the households living in approximately 5 million available housing units subsidized by federal housing assistance.

[Kevin Taglang is executive editor at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.]