Housing Vouchers for Money Follows
the Person -
Information Bulletin
Housing is as one of the most difficult barriers to transition
persons from institutions into the community. When your State is
developing its Money Follows the Person application, you might
consider the following sources of housing subsidies that persons
in institutions might use.
1. Housing Vouchers, aka Section 8 vouchers
There are nearly 64,000 Mainstream
Vouchers nationwide that
your local Housing Authorities were supposed to issue only to
persons with disabilities. Unfortunately, pursuant to a recent
Freedom of Information Act request, HUD stated that only 42%
were apparently issued to persons with disabilities. What about
the 37,120 (58%) not being used by persons with disabilities?
Moreover, HUD's PIH 2005-5 Notice told Housing Authorities that
Mainstream vouchers must continue to be issued to disabled
persons "upon turnover." That is, not only were these
64,000
vouchers supposed to be initially issued only to persons with
disabilities, but when these vouchers were turned in by a
person with disability, the voucher was supposed to be reissued
only to another person with a disability. By all accounts, this
has not happened. Therefore, if your local Housing Authority
received Mainstream Vouchers, you should make sure they are
being used by persons with disabilities.
HUD has written that "failure to serve disabled families
[with
vouchers for persons with disabilities] as required will result
in forfeiture of the vouchers." HUD is supposed to be
tracking
these. It is unclear if HUD has taken any action to implement
this. You should telephone your regional HUD offices to
determine if HUD has tracked the Mainstream vouchers issued to
your local Housing Authority.
2. Fair Share Vouchers
In addition to the Mainstream vouchers, in FY2000, 2001 and
2002, HUD issued Fair Share Vouchers. These were very
competitive and Housing Authorities had to apply for these
vouchers. 815 Housing Authorities received these vouchers
because they promised to issue 18,556 Fair Share vouchers to
persons with disabilities and another 2,821 Fair Share vouchers
to persons who were on Medical Assistance Waivers. However,
based on numerous reports, Housing Authorities took these Fair
Share Vouchers that were awarded only for persons with
disabilities and intermingled them with
non-disability specific
vouchers.
HUD told Housing Authorities that these Fair Share vouchers had
to be initially used only for persons with disabilities and
persons on a MA waiver and were to be reissued or "turnovered"
only to persons with disabilities and persons on a waiver. By
all accounts, this has not happened.
3. Other Housing Vouchers
In addition, nationwide of the remainder 1.7 million vouchers
(i.e., after subtracting the Mainstream and disability only
Fair Share Vouchers), about 14% (241,000) were turned over in
the past year and issued to persons on a wait list. Another 10%
(170,000) were turned over in the last one to two years.
Therefore, despite long waiting lists for these
non-disability-
only vouchers, the list does move.
States applying for MFP grants should be working with Housing
Authorities to use these housing vouchers to transition persons
out of institutions.
4. HOME Investment Partnerships
In FY 2003 and FY 2004, HUD allocated $1.375 billion and
$1.423
billion, respectively, in HOME funds. States and local
government entities receiving these funds can allocate these
for Tenant-Based Rental Assistance, a fancy term for housing
vouchers. In FY 2003 and FY 2004, only 2.9% and 3.3%,
respectively, were used for housing vouchers.
States MA offices have a unique opportunity to develop a
program that includes HOME's
Tenant-Based Rental Assistance
dollars.
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Disability Advocates:
These housing options could be a part of your MFP applications.
But even if they are not, these are potential sources to obtain
housing for persons who are "unnecessarily institutionalized."
- Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues
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