HUD Announces Availability of 4,300 Vouchers for People with Disabilities

Submitted by mpjones@ancor.org on Tue, 10/05/2010 - 1:50pm
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U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan announced today that thousands of non-elderly Americans with disabilities will receive housing assistance to enable them to access affordable housing.  Public housing authorities across the U.S. will distribute approximately 4,300 rental assistance vouchers to this population.         

HUD is awarding nearly $33 million to fund these vouchers through its Rental Assistance for Non-Elderly Persons with Disabilities Program <http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/programs/hcv/pwd/ned.cfm> .        

ANCOR members are encouraged to contact their PHAs and urge them to apply for these vouchers.

The grants announced are part of the $40 million HUD made available last April to help public housing authorities across the country fund rental vouchers for non-elderly persons with disabilities.  PHAs could apply for funding under the following categories:      

Category I – These vouchers will be used by non-elderly individuals with disabilities and their families access affordable housing in a community that adequately meets their needs.  Today’s announcement is for this category.    

Category II – Up to 1,000 vouchers will be specifically targeted for non-elderly individuals with disabilities currently living in nursing homes and other health care institutions move into the community with rental assistance.  This category will be announced later this year.      

Last year, as part of President Obama’s Year of Community Living initiative, HUD and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched a joint effort to provide housing support for non-elderly persons with disabilities.  The interagency collaboration is intended to allow persons with disabilities to live productive independent lives in their communities rather than in institutional settings.  This announcement represents the first phase of the joint effort.      

Go to http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2010/HUDNo.10-214 for a list of PHAs that received these vouchers.