COMING HOME

1
COMING HOME

• Presentation to the Council of State Community
  Development Agencies
• September 16, 2008 Williamsburg, Virginia
• Julie A. Stanley, Director of Community
  Integration for People with Disabilities
• Office of the Governor, Commonwealth of Virginia

2

• National long-term care policy for seniors and
  people with disabilities is changing rapidly and
  dramatically from institutional to
  community living.
• States are rebalancing their entire systems of
  funding and delivery of long-term services and
  supports and they face enormous
  challenges in assuring a supply of affordable,
  accessible community housing.

3

• Even though thousands of new units of affordable
  and accessible housing have been developed, there
  remains an undeniable lack of integrated,
  affordable, accessible, and visitable housing
  from which people with disabilities and seniors
  may choose.

4

• The lack of affordable, accessible housing is
  frequently cited by a wide range of organizations
  and individuals as the single largest barrier to
  full inclusion and community integration of
  persons with disabilities.
• Why?
• Individuals with disabilities often have
  extremely low incomes and cannot even afford most
  government-assisted housing produced today.

5

• Breaking down housing barriers for individuals
  with disabilities and seniors is one the most
  important community development needs of our
  time.

6
The Need Becomes More Urgent Every Day

• One in five individuals living in the United
  States has one or more disabilities.
• Many of these individuals live in institutions,
  yet many want to come home, and states have an
  obligation to offer them an opportunity to do so.
• More and more wounded warriors are coming home to
  live with permanent disabilities. In the Iraqi
  War alone, as of this summer over 31,000 had come
  home wounded.
• By the year 2020, one in six Americans will be 65
  years or older.
• The nation's stock of public housing for seniors
  and persons with disabilities is aging -- along
  with all of us.

7
At the Federal Level

• In a 1.75 billion initiative, the Centers for
  Medicare Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded Money
  Follows the Person funding to 31 states to
  assist over 37,000 people to move from
  institutions to the community in the next four
  years.
• CMS identified housing as a critical element for
  state systems that support individuals moving to
  the community.
• HUD asked PHAs to collaborate with state HFAs,
  CMS, and local disability organizations to
  provide integrated, affordable, and accessible
  community housing options. PHAs were
  specifically encouraged to set local preferences
  and use public housing units, Housing Choice
  Vouchers, and Mainstream Vouchers to support
  people with disabilities and seniors in their
  move to the community
• But no HUD funding has been targeted for these
  individuals.

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In Virginia.

• 1,041 seniors and individuals with disabilities
  will come home under Money Follows the Person
  to a
• Home
• Apartment
• Setting in which no more than four unrelated
  persons live
• To increase options
• Governor Kaine personally contacted PHAs in
  Virginia
• Secretaries of Health and Human Resources and
  Commerce and Trade appointed a Housing Task Force
  to recommend ways to increase accessible,
  affordable housing for these individuals

9
Also in Virginia

• Medicaid-reimbursed home modification funding is
  being made available to thousands of individuals
  who had no access to it previously
• Virginia Department of Housing and Community
  Development is working with the State Medicaid
  agency in its Money Follows the Person Project,
  contributing 0.5 million per year for
• Home modifications that exceed the 5,000 per
  year maximum Medicaid amount
• Temporary rent between signing a lease and
  completion of modifications

10
And More in Virginia

• Over 3 million in Federal Part B funding was set
  aside by the State Independent Living Council to
  work with PHAs and other housing agencies to
  positively impact local housing policies for
  seniors and individuals with disabilities
• Ongoing and sustained efforts to break down
  communication barriers between housing and health
  and human service worlds
• Easy Living Coalition

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COSCDA Can Help People Come Home By

• Advocating for the integration of the needs of
  seniors and individuals with disabilities in the
  community development goals of the states and at
  the federal level
• Developing policies and recommendations on how
  states can best accomplish this integration
• Supporting the Frank Melville Supportive Housing
  Investment Act of 2008 (HR 5772)  
• Helping states creatively use funds that come
  from the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund
  to increase affordable and accessible housing   
• Keeping your members informed about federal and
  state developments in policies related to
  long-term care for seniors and people with
  disabilities

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Resources You Can Use

• Public Housing Distressed Conditions in
  Developments for the Elderly and Persons with
  Disabilities and Strategies Used for Improvement.
  Government Accounting Office, GAO-06-163, ACCNO
  A42937 (12/09/2005)
• PRICED OUT IN 2006The Housing Crisis for People
  with Disabilities. Ann OHara, Emily Cooper,
  Andrew Zovistoski, and Jonathan Buttrick (April
  2007)
• Funding Sources Successfully Used by States to
  Support Development of Integrated, Affordable,
  and Accessible Community Housing. Independent
  Living Research Utilization (November 2007)
• The Hidden Housing Crisis Worst Case Housing
  Needs Among Adults With Disabilities. Kathryn P.
  Nelson (April 2008)

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For More Information

• One CommunityVirginias Community Integration
  Initiative http//www.olmsteadva.com
• Virginias Money Follows the Person Project
  http//www.olmsteadva.com/mfp
• Virginias Office of Community Integration
  julie.stanley_at_governor.virginia.gov
• [phone]