Featured in this Funding Alert are:

§         Strategies for the disability community to urge PHAs to apply all available Section 8 vouchers, including two other set-asides of Section 8 vouchers for people with disabilities;

§         An outline of how non-profit disability organizations can apply directly to administer vouchers through one of these set-asides; and

§         A brief overview of other available HUD funding opportunities.  

More information on how to apply for all of these resources can also be found at www.tacinc.org.

Elderly Only Designation Linked to Section 8 Vouchers 

Since 1995, the nation’s PHAs have been able to designate federal public housing buildings as elderly only.  Once this designation occurs, people with disabilities under age 62 are no longer permitted to move into the properties that have been designated (even if they have been on the waiting list for years) unless there are no elderly households on the waiting list.  

Because elderly only designation has obvious negative consequences for people with disabilities, each year since 1997, Congress has provided new Section 8 vouchers for people with disabilities who are adversely affected when units in public housing buildings are designated elderly only.  These vouchers have been made available each year to PHAs through the Rental Assistance for Non-Elderly Persons with Disabilities in Support of Designated Housing Plans program (referred to as the “Designated Housing” program). 

The Plight of John

There is no question that people with disabilities have few housing options left for them when studio and one-bedroom public housing apartments are exclusively reserved for elderly households.  Consider the plight of John, a man with multiple sclerosis who is 45 years old.  Until four years ago, John earned $25,000 a year as a copy editor.  Unfortunately, his disability progressed so that he can no longer work, and he now relies on $700 per month in Social Security Disability Income benefits. 

John applied for elderly/disabled public housing in 1999 and is still on the waiting list.  In 2001, John’s PHA received approval from HUD to designate the units in this public housing development as elderly only.  HUD’s approval means that as long as there is an elderly person on this PHA’s public housing waiting list – even if they applied yesterday – the elderly person will be offered the next vacant unit that becomes available.  The only way that John will be able to move into this property is if there are literally no elderly households left on the waiting list.  Because the housing John applied for is very desirable, well located, and well maintained, elderly households apply to live there on a regular basis.  John stands virtually no chance of getting a unit in this property until he turns 62. 

As part of the designation process, the PHA could have requested new Section 8 vouchers from HUD to help people with disabilities like John who were on PHA’s public waiting list or who might have applied at some future time if the housing had not been designated.  Unfortunately, this PHA decided not to request these vouchers.  HUD also did not obligate the PHA to apply for new Section 8 vouchers for people like John as a condition of approving the PHA’s Allocation Plan (the plan required by HUD in order to designated any public housing units).  In its Allocation Plan, the PHA told HUD that they would make other resources available for people like John.  However, John is still struggling to find an affordable apartment and doesn’t have a Section 8 voucher to help him pay the rent. 

Why Aren’t PHAs Applying?

Unfortunately, there are many people like John who have been deprived of federally subsidized housing opportunities because of elderly only housing policies.  Housing advocates for people with disabilities are still trying to decipher why PHAs that have designated public housing units as elderly only do not apply for these new vouchers and what can be done about it. 

Public Law 104-120, which governs elderly only designation, states that PHAs seeking to designate elderly only housing must give HUD a description of “any plans to secure additional resources or housing assistance to provide assistance to families that may have been housed if occupancy in the project were not restricted” [emphasis added].  HUD guidance issued on March 12, 1997 further states that this law focuses on the total housing needs of the low-income population of a community and not one group – such as elderly households – in particular.  The HUD Notice further states: 

In most communities, there are substantial unmet housing needs of both elderly families and persons with disabilities.  For these communities, a public housing authority’s demonstration that it will make reasonable efforts to provide tenant based assistance or other appropriate resources to the non-designated group is sufficient for designation.  [Emphasis added] 

The most obvious interpretation of the above federal policy is that: 

Þ    If there is an unmet need for housing for people with disabilities in a community; 

Þ    And if a PHA intends to designate elderly/disabled public housing as elderly only;  

Þ    And if Congress has made available new Section 8 vouchers for people with disabilities specifically for these PHAs designating elderly only housing; 

Þ    Then it is reasonable to expect that PHAs would be obligated to apply for them. 

Through this Opening Doors Funding Alert, the Technical Assistance Collaborative, Inc. (TAC) and the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force (CCD Housing Task Force) are urging housing advocates for people with disabilities to contact PHAs that have been designating elderly only housing and remind them of their obligation to apply for these vouchers during this year’s Section 8 application process.  To be as effective as possible in these discussions, advocates will need information about: 

Ø      Available Section 8 vouchers and how PHAs can apply for them; and

Ø      Which PHAs have designated elderly only housing and whether they have or have not applied for Section 8 vouchers in conjunction with this designation. 

New Section 8 Vouchers to Replace Elderly Only Public Housing 

This year, Congress has appropriate $20 million in new funding to provide 3,950 new Designated Housing Section 8 vouchers for people with disabilities who can no longer move into elderly only public housing units.  A PHA is eligible to apply for up to 200 of these vouchers.  Applications for these vouchers are due to HUD by July 23, 2002. 

Despite the number of public housing units that have disappeared for people with disabilities over the years, PHAs have been slow to apply for vouchers to replace these lost units.  In fact, for the past several years, HUD has not received enough applications from PHAs designating elderly only housing to give out all the available vouchers.  For example, during a recent 12-month period, HUD approved 50 PHA Allocation Plans but only 5 of these PHAs applied for the new vouchers that Congress linked to public housing designation. 

From these data, it is reasonable to conclude that many people with disabilities who were on PHA public housing waiting lists – like John mentioned above – have been left with no affordable housing options at all.  Advocates for people with disabilities have been concerned by this lack of response from PHAs, and are intent on making sure that PHAs do not shirk their responsibilities to people with disabilities in their eagerness to create elderly only buildings. 

PHAs with HUD-Approved Allocation Plans Eligible to Apply for New Vouchers 

In order to be eligible to apply for the new “Designated Housing” vouchers, PHAs must have a HUD-approved Allocation Plan.  As stated above, HUD has been approving Allocation Plans since 1995, and has approved a total of 196 plans to date.  These plans, in the aggregate, have designated approximately 63,000 units of public housing as elderly only.  Many of these are units with accessibility modifications to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities.  More and more units are being designated each month and HUD is now granting extensions to plans that were originally approved in the mid-1990s. 

PHAs with a HUD-approved Allocation Plan are eligible to apply for this set-aside of Section 8 vouchers, even if the Allocation Plan was approved three or four years ago.  In order to assist the disability community to identify these PHAs, TAC has included a list of all PHAs with Allocation Plans approved since 1997 in Table 1.  This table, which is compiled from data made available by HUD, is organized alphabetically by state.  To view HUD’s most up-to-date listing, go to www.hud.gov/offices/pih/centers/sac/designated. 

Track Record of PHAs 

A review of HUD’s data from Table 1 shows that some PHAs have neglected to apply for these new Section 8 vouchers targeted to people with disabilities affected by designation, even though PHAs have reduced the number of public housing units available to people with disabilities.  The table on page 6 indicates exactly how many public housing units were designated elderly only and how many vouchers the PHA received from HUD that year.  It is important to note that PHAs that have designated elderly only housing can apply year after year for new vouchers for people with disabilities as long as: (1) Congress makes new vouchers available; and (2) the PHA can show a need for the vouchers.  To illustrate how Table 1 should be interpreted, some examples of the data included in this table are provided below: 

Ø      The Municipal Housing Authority in Des Moines, Iowa designated 190 units of public housing as elderly only in 2001 but did not receive any designated vouchers from HUD. 

Ø      The Housing Authority of Durham, North Carolina also designated elderly only housing in 2001 – 389 units in total – and requested 200 vouchers for people with disabilities to offset this loss of housing. 

Ø      In 1999, the Housing Authority of West Warwick, Rhode Island designated 250 units of public housing as elderly only but did not receive any vouchers for people with disabilities in 1999, 2000, or 2001, even though vouchers were available. 

Ø      The City of Las Vegas Housing Authority also designated 570 units as elderly only housing in 1999.  However, this PHA has received 200 new vouchers for people with disabilities each year since 1999. 

Are People with Disabilities Being Adversely Affected by Designation? 

It is difficult to know for certain what happens to people with disabilities on public housing waiting lists once designation occurs.  For example, it is reasonable to conclude that people with disabilities in Las Vegas, Nevada who were adversely affected by designation were given other housing options because the PHA applied for a total of 600 new Section 8 vouchers over a three-year period.  However, it is very difficult to learn what happened to people with disabilities in communities that never received new vouchers to mitigate the impact of designation. 

To learn more, the disability community may want to ask these questions to PHAs that did not receive new vouchers linked to designation: 

• Why did the PHA not receive new vouchers from HUD?

• Did the PHA decide not to request new vouchers because it had enough unused regular Section 8 vouchers for people with disabilities who were on the public housing waiting list?

If the answer to the last question is yes, then these follow-up questions are also important: 

• Did all of the people with disabilities on the public housing waiting list actually get a voucher by the time they would have been offered a public housing unit?

• How did the PHA accomplish this goal?  Did they create a preference in their Section 8 program for people with disabilities on the public housing waiting list?

• If so, does this preference still apply?

• If not, then how did the PHA accommodate them?

• Were people with disabilities able to obtain housing using the voucher?

• Did the PHA assist them with their housing search?

• How is the PHA ensuring that its obligations under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act to provide accessible housing for people with disabilities are being met?

• Is there an adequate supply of barrier-free or otherwise accessible housing that will accept Section 8 vouchers?

Next Steps – Capitalizing on the New Vouchers Available 

It is clear that the disability community must take the lead in holding PHAs accountable for designation, and must do more to ensure that PHAs apply for every voucher that Congress makes available for elderly only designation purposes.  Showing a legitimate demand for these vouchers is the best way to show federal policy makers that these set-aside vouchers are needed – and will continue to be needed – as long as PHAs continue to designate housing as elderly only. 

To obtain new vouchers, the disability community must immediately organize to do several things: 

1. Determine if the local PHA intends to designate public housing as elderly only this year.  HUD’s NOFA sets a deadline of May 20 for PHAs to file Allocation Plans and be eligible to apply for new vouchers available this year.  If the PHA plans to designate public housing units but does not request vouchers this year, people with disabilities adversely affected by this designation might never receive a voucher.

2. Review Table 1 to identify PHAs with Allocation Plans approved since 1997.  Did the PHA receive vouchers as a result of the designation?  If so, were they sufficient to address the lost housing opportunities for people with disabilities as the result of designation?  You can begin to assess this loss by asking the PHA’s Board of Commissioners or Executive Director some of the key questions already identified.  It would be most effective to ask the PHA these questions at a public meeting as well as in writing, and request a written response.

3. Determine if your PHA currently has a Section 8 utilization rate of at least 97 percent.  PHAs that have a Section 8 utilization rate of less than 97 percent are not eligible to apply for any new Section 8 vouchers this year.  The Section 8 utilization rate is used by HUD to ensure that the majority of vouchers the PHA currently administers are leased – theoretically indicating that the PHA needs new vouchers to meet demand.  HUD has a list of PHAs with utilization rates over 97 percent as of February 26, 2002 online at www.hud.gov/offices/adm/grants/nofa/other/fairshare-pha.doc.

Unfortunately, the 97 percent utilization rate requirement is a real barrier for disability advocates seeking to convince a PHA to apply for new vouchers.  It is also a problem for people with disabilities who need subsidized housing because there is no guarantee or obligation that a PHA designating elderly only housing will set-aside any of its existing unused vouchers for people with disabilities. 

4. Collect separate data to demonstrate the housing needs of people with disabilities and relate it to the loss of housing from designation.  This data can come from a variety of sources, but should make a clear case for the need for more housing resources for people with disabilities.

5. Bring a copy of the NOFA (available online at www.hud.gov/offices/adm/grants/nofa/radhsec.pdf) or a copy of this issue of Opening Doors to a meeting with the PHA.  Show the PHA that they will be held publicly accountable for submitting a Section 8 application on behalf of people with disabilities.

Remember that a PHA with housing designated elderly only as far back as 1995 is eligible to apply to obtain new vouchers from this set-aside, even if they have applied in the past.  For HUD’s complete and most up-to-date listing of all Allocation Plans, go to www.hud.gov/offices/pih/centers/sac/designated.  In fact, last year, 8 of the 13 applications received by HUD for these vouchers were from PHAs that had designated housing in prior years. 

6. Determine if the PHA’s Allocation Plan has expired, is about to expire, or has been extended.  If the Allocation Plan has expired (the HUD approval to designate is good for only five years), then the PHA must either: 1) apply to have the plan extended for an additional two years; or 2) begin to permit occupancy again by people with disabilities under age 62.  If the PHA is planning to extend its Allocation Plan, it is a good time to insist that they also apply for new Section 8 vouchers for people with disabilities.

7. If a PHA has an approved PHA Allocation Plan and at least a 97 percent Section 8 utilization rate, insist they apply for new Section 8 vouchers for people with disabilities if there is any indication that people with disabilities have lost housing opportunities as a result of the designation!  Remember, this is the reason Congress put these funds in HUD’s budget in the first place: to ensure that the housing rights of people with disabilities would be respected and protected.

Table 1: PHAs with Elderly Only Allocation Plans 

Below is a list of PHAs with HUD-approved elderly only Allocation Plans from 1997 through March 8, 2002.*  This chart is adapted from HUD’s online version, posted at www.hud.gov/offices/pih/centers/sac/designated.   Please refer to this site for information on Allocation Plans approved before 1997.  The PHAs are organized by state including the number of units designated elderly only as well as the number of Section 8 vouchers awarded to the PHA in conjunction with the Allocation Plan (if any).