Blog: Homelessness Ends Here

On June 22, 2009, the 10^th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision, President Barack Obama announced a new Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher initiative as part of “The Year of Community Living” – a new and ground-breaking effort to assist people with the most significant and long-term disabilities to live independent and fulfilling lives in the community. 

The Technical Assistance Collaborative applauds this new federal policy direction which inaugurates a promising partnership between the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Health and Human Services – along with a new role for the nation’s Public Housing Agencies (PHAs).  HUD is proposing to provide 4,000 or more new vouchers through PHAs for very low income people with disabilities including special targeting policies aligned with people moving from nursing homes and other restrictive settings through HHS’s Money Follows the Person initiative. 

In 1999, the Olmstead decision affirmed the community integration mandate within the Americans with Disabilities Act by holding that the unjustified institutionalization of people with disabilities is a form of unlawful discrimination – and a violation of an individual’s civil rights. Most people with disabilities affected by the Olmstead decision are receiving government assistance related to their disability and have extremely low incomes.

TAC has worked for many years to illuminate the housing crisis faced by people with the most significant and long term disabilities who rely on federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits that are 20 percent below the federal poverty line.  Our recent study – Priced Out in 2008 – found that in the majority of the nation’s metropolitan areas, rents for modestly priced apartments are higher than the entire monthly income of an individual receiving SSI.

Without housing assistance, people with disabilities at this income level are too often forced to choose between a nursing home bed, a shared bedroom in a substandard and segregated Board and Care facility, or homelessness – all of which cost the government more money than simply providing a housing subsidy and appropriate community based services. 

This “hidden housing crisis” is essentially what the Olmstead decision was intended to address.  People with disabilities cannot benefit from high quality health care and other social services in the community if they don’t have places to live.  That’s why they often face a “Hobson’s choice” by being forced to choose between placement in a nursing home or a Board and Care facility – where they give up their independence and virtually all of their monthly income – and homelessness. 

Resources from the nation’s affordable housing system are the solution to this housing crisis.  The permanent supportive housing approach – which links decent, safe, affordable and accessible housing with community-based supports and services – has proven to be a successful and cost effective alternative to homelessness and to the unnecessary and illegal isolation of people with disabilities in restrictive and segregated facilities

Disability housing advocates around the country have been struggling for years to get the attention of housing policy makers, including some who view this crisis as one that government human services agencies – rather than affordable housing agencies – should solve.  That viewpoint – that somehow because you have a disability your housing needs are not relevant to the federal government’s affordable housing policies – is ironically consistent with the segregated government policies that the Olmstead decision finally overturned ten year ago.

The Obama Administration’s announcement sends a strong signal to the affordable housing community – including the nation’s Public Housing Agencies – that the housing needs of people with disabilities are a high priority.  To reinforce that message, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan – who has extensive expertise and experience in the permanent supportive housing approach – sent a letter to all PHAs urging them to adopt a high priority for people with disabilities who desire to transition from an institutional setting to housing in the community.  On the same day, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced several related HHS initiatives that are “only the beginning of the collaboration between HHS and HUD”.

State and local housing agencies are also important partners in the work that must be done to expand the supply of permanent supportive housing opportunities across the country. Legislation to revitalize HUD’s Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program is now moving through Congress (H.R. 1675 – the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2009) and has received strong bi-partisan support.  Along with the new voucher initiative, these federal actions will help inaugurate a new and more inclusive era in federal housing policy for people with disabilities by ensuring that permanent supportive housing units can be fully integrated within any affordable housing property – just as people with disabilities can become fully integrated within each and every community. 

Both H.R. 1675 and the new disability voucher initiative are the outcome of TAC’s federal housing policy work in partnership with the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force.  We are gratified that the Obama Administration has adopted our recommendation to link Housing Choice Vouchers to people with the most significant and long term disabilities – a proposal developed through the sustained support of the Melville Charitable Trust.

Philanthropy can also make an important contribution to this work by supporting technical assistance to structure new collaborations and partnerships between housing and services agencies in government and in the community.  An outstanding example of the critical role of the philanthropic sector is the successful post-Katrina work being done by TAC and other stakeholders to create a 3,000 unit permanent supportive housing system in Louisiana.  This effort could not have been undertaken without the sustained support of the Melville Charitable Trust and other core partners in the Funders Together network.

Almost 20 years after the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act – and ten years after Olmstead – the goal of achieving true community integration for all people with disabilities remains an elusive one.  However, the actions taken by President Obama, HUD, and HHS on June 22 offer a new vision and a more collaborative framework at the federal for achieving this goal.  It is up to all of us to transfer that framework to every state and every community across the country.  If we can make that happen, perhaps 10 years from now, on July 4, 2019, we can truly celebrate the full inclusion of all people in the life of this great nation.

About the Authors
Stephen L. Day and Ann O’Hara are Executive Director and Associate Director, respectively, of the Technical Assistance Collaborative, a national non-profit organization that works to achieve positive outcomes on behalf of people with disabilities, people who are homeless, and people with other special needs. Steve and Ann have provided consultation and technical assistance to 35 states, over 100 local jurisdictions, and numerous national policy and advocacy organizations.