2004 Advocates' Guide To Housing and Community Development Policy
SECTION 811 SUPPORTIVE HOUSING FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
HOT TOPICS
*Funding for the Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities
program is insufficient because appropriations have not increased and renewals
are taking up a larger and larger share of the funding.
THE PROGRAM
The Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program
provides funding exclusively to non-profit developers building and operating
housing for low income households with disabilities. It was created under the
Cranston-Gonzales National Affordable Housing Act of 1990, and was modified in
1992 by the Housing and Community Development Act to include a tenant based
rental assistance component, which received appropriations from Congress
beginning in 1997. Historically, the HUD Office of Housing has administered the
Section 811 program, although HUD's Public and Indian Housing Office currently
administers the tenant-based rental assistance component as the Section 8
Mainstream Housing Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities program.
PROGRAM INTENT
Being part of the community and living as independently as possible are among
the most important values and goals shared by people with disabilities, their
families, and advocates. A home of one's own-either rental or owned-is the
cornerstone of independence for people with disabilities. including people with
severe disabilities who may also need other in-home or community-based supports.
However, across the nation, millions of people with severe disabilities face a
crisis in the availability of decent, safe, affordable and accessible housing.
People with severe disabilities continue to live unnecessarily in large
congregate facilities or other restrictive settings such as nursing homes or
institutions. Hundreds of thousands of adults with disabilities continue to live
at home with parents over the age of 65. People with mobility or sensory
impairments have great difficulty finding affordable housing with even basic
accessible features, such as an entrance with no steps or an accessible
bathroom. This difficulty is magnified in rural areas where there is a scarcity
of any rental housing and new units are rarely developed. The Section 811
program was specifically authorized and designed to address these supportive
housing needs.
PROGRAM BENEFICIARIES
Section 811 provides housing for people with physical or developmental
disabilities, or people with chronic mental illness who are 18 years of age or
older and have very low incomes. Adults with disabilities with household income
at or below 50 percent of the area median income are eligible to participate.
Section 811 participants may live in supportive housing developed and owned by
non-profit organizations or they may receive tenant-based rental assistance that
helps them rent decent and safe housing in the private rental market. In either
instance, program participants may also receive the benefit of the services and
supports that are the "supports" component of the Section 811 supportive housing
program. It is important to note, however, that all services and supports
offered to Section 811 participants must be voluntary and cannot be mandated as
a condition of participation in the Section 811 housing program.
STRUCTURE
Under the Section 811 program, HUD provides interest-free capital advances to
non-profit sponsors to help finance the development of rental housing such as
independent living projects, condominium units, and small group homes that also
offer voluntary supportive services for people with disabilities. The capital
advance can finance the construction, rehabilitation, or acquisition (with or
without rehabilitation) of supportive housing. The capital advance does not have
to be repaid as long as the housing remains available for very low income people
with disabilities for at least 40 years. Along with the capital advance, the
Section 811 program also provides a five year renewable Project Rental
Assistance Contract (PRAC) to the project owner covering the difference between
the HUD-approved cost of operating the housing (maintenance, repairs, property
insurance, etc.) and the amount the residents pay in rent. Under the capital
advance/PRAC component of Section 811, tenants pay 30 percent of their adjusted
income for rent which ensures affordability for very low income households. In
addition to the capital advance/PRAC component of Section 811, under the Section
811 authorizing statute, up to 25 percent of appropriations can be used by HUD
to fund tenant based rental contracts. Since 1997, Congress has provided
appropriations for tenant based rental assistance activities that HUD has used
to fund the Section 8 Mainstream Housing Opportunities for Persons with
Disabilities program. Initially made available only to Public Housing Agencies,
HUD waiver authority has permitted non-profit disability organizations to apply
for these Mainstream vouchers since 1999. While these vouchers are treated
essentially the same as other Section 8 vouchers in terms of programmatic rules,
renewal of these Mainstream vouchers, which have five year terms, are funded out
of the appropriation for the Section 811 program.
HUD publishes a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) each year for the Section
811 funding appropriated by Congress. The NOFA specifies the number of Section
811 units allocated to each HUD Field Office according to needs factors that
include the number of persons age 16 years or older with disabilities.
Applications approved by HUD for funding must include a supportive services plan
that is well-designed to meet the needs of persons with disabilities. This
determination is made by the appropriate state or local agency prior to the
submission of the application. Examples of supportive services offered in
conjunction with Section 811 projects include case management, assistance with
housing or residential skills such as landlord/tenant obligations, housekeeping
assistance, assistance with skills of daily living, and others. However,
residents cannot be required to accept any supportive services as a condition of
occupancy.
FUNDING
For FY 2004, Congress appropriated $249 million for Section 811-a $9 million cut
from FY 2003 funding levels. On-going obligations to renew funding associated
with units already in existence will continue to drain more program resources
away from new units unless appropriations are increased. For example, HUD
projects that it will cost $52 million of FY 2004 funding to renew all expiring
five-year project- and tenant-based rental assistance contracts-more than 20
percent of the entire appropriation. From the FY 2003 appropriation of $258, HUD
awarded $51 million in tenant based rental assistance funding to support 1,336
new vouchers. Grantees included 17 Public Housing Agencies and 11 non-profit
disability organizations. HUD also awarded $151 million in capital advance/PRAC
funding to non-profit disability organizations to support the creation of 1,475
new units of supportive housing.
ISSUES
The major issue facing the Section 811 program is the insufficient funding of
the program. The funding issue is two-fold: (1) 811 appropriation levels have
not been increased and have not even kept pace with inflation at a time when the
need for supportive housing for people with disabilities has increased
dramatically; and (2) renewals, particularly the renewal of Mainstream vouchers,
will increasingly take up more and more of Section 811 funding. Recently, the
Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force projected that
unless appropriations levels rise, the entire Section 811 program will be
allocated to tenant based rental assistance and PRAC renewals, completely
eliminating the original purpose of the program as authorized in 1990, which was
to produce new supportive housing units for people with severe disabilities.
Another issue of concern to disability advocates is HUD's tracking of Section
8 Mainstream vouchers that are funded from Section 811 appropriations. Over
12,000 vouchers have been awarded since 1997. Most of these vouchers have been
awarded to PHAs but non-profit disability organizations also have been funded.
No HUD monitoring or tracking mechanisms have been implemented to ensure that
these vouchers are being issued to people with disabilities in need of
supportive housing. National disability organizations that are members of the
Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force have expressed
concern to HUD and Congress because without such procedures, there is no
assurance that all Section 811-funded vouchers are being used for the purposes
authorized in Section 811 legislation, which is to provide housing for people
with disabilities.
WHAT ADVOCATES CAN DO
Advocates can urge members of Congress to increase Section 811 appropriation
levels so that they are more commensurate with the unmet need for supportive
housing among people with disabilities. Recent HUD Worst Case Housing Needs data
show that people with disabilities make up more than 25 percent of households
with worst case housing needs, needs not reflected by current Section 811
appropriation levels. The CCD Housing Task Force has recommended that Section
811 appropriations be increased by approximately $50 million in FY 2005 to a
level of $300 million. This amount of funding is needed in order to ensure
renewal funding and maintain the program's current "output" of new units under
both the Capital Advance/PRAC and tenant based rental assistance components.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force (202) 783-2229
www.c-c-d.org/tf-housing.htm
We appreciate the contributions of the Technical Assistance Collaborative to
this article.
Last Updated on
07/27/04
webmaster@namiscc.org
