ADAPT Gets Commitment From HUD Secretary Jackson on Voucher Implementation
 
Washington, D.C.--- Just to be sure HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson got the
point that ADAPT wants HUD vouchers for people transitioning out of
nursing homes and institutions into community living, ADAPT delivered the
message simultaneously at Jackson's home in Alexandria, Virginia, and HUD
headquarters in D.C. The strategy paid off when Secretary Jackson came
down to HUD plaza to personally meet with protestors, and commit to work
with ADAPT on voucher implementation. 
 
"We are pleased that Sec. Jackson did what no HUD Secretary before him has
done, namely, come to us in the street, outside the HUD fortress, and
pledge to work together to improve the lives of people with disabilities,"
said Shona Eakin, Pennsylvania ADAPT Organizer. "We have made real
progress in recent years getting people out of nursing homes using our own
ingenuity, perseverance, and the Medicaid System Change Grants. Our
biggest challenge remains finding accessible, affordable, integrated
housing for people to move into when they leave the nursing home." 
 
Along with voucher implementation, follow-up with Jackson will also
address the problem of affordable housing stock becoming suddenly
available, then just as suddenly disappearing, in the wake of Hurricane
Katrina. Many people with disabilities and other low-income people have
waited as long as ten years for their names to rise to the top of Section
8 waiting lists in their home communities. As some of those communities
have suddenly become home to tens of thousands of survivors of Katrina,
thousands of affordable housing units "magically" appeared to help house
them. The question is, with so many people with disabilities waiting for
that housing, where did those units come from, and why weren't they being
used for people who were kept waiting for years? And now that those units
are being used to house Katrina survivors, what does that mean for the
disability community and other low-income people on waiting lists for
housing? 
 
"I've been waiting for a long time for my name to get to the top of the
Section 8 waiting list in Atlanta," said Susan Edwards, a Georgia ADAPT
member. Before Katrina, Section 8 told me I was number 100 on the list.
Since Katrina they told me that I am now number 300, and unless both my
parents die it will be a long, long time before I get Section 8. I'm
really glad that Secretary Jackson is going to work with ADAPT on voucher
implementation for people leaving nursing homes, but what about me? Will I
die before my name gets to the top of the list and I finally get a chance
to have my own home, too?" 
 
Lack of accessible, affordable, integrated housing remains the greatest
barrier to community living for people who are currently warehoused in
nursing homes and other institutions. The dearth of housing surpasses even
the universal lack of adequate community based services and supports.
According to statistics compiled by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid,
more than 300,000 of the million and a half people in the nation's nursing
homes want to move back into the community. That will only be possible
with enough accessible, affordable, integrated housing, and
community-based services and supports. 
 
Bob Kafka 512-431-4085
Marsha Katz 406-544-9504