Federal Programs
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
History
Public housing for low-income people has been around since the early 1930’s with the first public housing projects developed in 1933 as the result of the National Recovery Act, The Wagner-Steagle Housing Act of 1937 established the United States Housing Administration and delineated the role of the Federal government as providing the money for housing with a local entity known as a public housing authority (PHA), appointed by local elected officials, to be responsible for initiative, the ownership and operation of the housing. The Department of Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 created the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a Cabinet-level agency. HUD’s mission is to increase homeownership, support community development and to increase access to affordable housing free from discrimination.
Discrimination and Accessibility Laws
Several laws have addressed the prohibition of discrimination beginning with the 1968 Fair Housing Act, which specifically prohibits discrimination based on race, national origin, color or religion. In 1974 an amendment was added that prohibits any discrimination on the basis of sex as well. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs and activities conducted by HUD or that receive financial assistance from HUD. As a result, HUD is to enforce the right of individuals to live in federally subsidized housing free from discrimination on the basis of disability. Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act passed in 1990 prohibits discrimination based on disability in programs, services, and activities provided or made available by public entities. HUD enforces Title II when it relates to state and local public housing, housing assistance and housing referrals.
Most Federal buildings and certain federally funded buildings are covered by the Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) of 1968. This act requires that covered federally funded buildings and facilities be accessible to persons with disabilities.
Housing for Individuals with Disabilities and Elderly
The first public housing dwelling units were built in the early 1960s and were designed originally for senior citizens (persons 62 years of age or older). Congress broadened the definition of "Elderly Family" (those eligible to live in these buildings), first in 1959, to include persons with disabilities over age 50, and then, in 1961, to include all families whose head or spouse had disabilities or handicaps, and then expanded the definition again in 1974. The 1974 Housing and Community Development Act also consolidated several grant programs into the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program to provide services to the most vulnerable living in the communities, to create jobs and expand business opportunities. In the 1970’s the Section 8 rental certificate and rental voucher (1980’s) programs were created to increase low-income tenants' choice of housing. In 1988, the Indian Housing Act gave HUD new responsibilities for housing needs of Native Americans and Alaskan Indians.
By the early 1980s, disability advocates began to actively seek housing for individuals with disabilities in community settings as part of the deinstitutionalization and community inclusion movements. Nonprofit agencies began seeking federal funds from HUD to build housing units specifically for individuals with disabilities with vouchers under the Section 8 Program paying the landlord for the rent. Other individuals with disabilities used Section 8 rental subsidy for rent in privately owned apartment buildings or housing units. Some individuals with disabilities sought housing assistance through public housing programs built for individuals who were elderly.
Federal Elderly-Only Housing Policies
In some instances, the younger individuals with disabilities and those who were elderly did not mix well. In 1990, the Cason v. the Rochester Housing Authority (RHA) lawsuit brought many of the issues related to "mixed housing" to the surface. The Federal Court found that the RHA had discriminated illegally against the plaintiffs who were three women with disabilities. HUD subsequently issued guidance to housing owners and managers requiring that they no longer use the independent living standard for determining eligibility and to restrict their inquiries about the nature and extent of their applicants' and tenants' disabilities.
Legislation passed in 1992, the Cranston-Gonzalez Affordable Housing Act, to establish authority and policy under which PHAs could designate housing either for the elderly or for people with disabilities upon HUD approval of PHAs' Allocation Plans. The 1992 “elderly-only” designation law allows owners of federally subsidized housing to restrict or exclude non-elderly people with disabilities (defined as adults under age 62) from moving into Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funded public and assisted housing programs.
HUD Programs
HUD administers Federal aid to local public housing agencies (PHAs) and to the individual Indian Housing Authorities (IHAs) to finance capital cost of construction, rehabilitation, or acquisition of public housing. HUD does not offer direct grants or loans to individuals, rather, the department works through local governments and non-profit organizations to make financial assistance and counseling available. HUD operates three types of housing:
Public housing operated by the housing authority;
Section 8, which provides funding to housing authorities to allow PHAs to give the tenant a certificate or voucher that provides a mechanism for the government to subsidize rent payment; and
Privately owned subsidized housing where government subsidizes directly the owner who then applies those subsidies to the rent.
Section 811
Under the Section 811 program, HUD provides funding to nonprofit organizations to develop rental housing with the availability of supportive services for very low-income adults with disabilities, and provides rent subsidies for the projects to help make them affordable. The program also provides project rental assistance, which covers the difference between the HUD-approved operating costs of the project and the tenants' contribution toward rent. The program is similar to Supportive Housing for the Elderly (Section 202).
HUD provides interest-free capital advances to nonprofit sponsors to help them finance the development of rental housing such as independent living projects, condominium units and small group homes with the availability of supportive services for persons with disabilities. The capital advance can finance the construction, rehabilitation, or acquisition with or without rehabilitation of supportive housing. The advance does not have to be repaid as long as the housing remains available for very low-income persons with disabilities for at least 40 years.
Historically, Section 811 has been one of the few HUD programs that have produced new affordable and accessible housing in communities. Currently 75 percent of Section 811 funds go toward capital advances/project rental assistance contracts awarded to non-profit groups to build and manage housing for people with disabilities. The remaining 25 percent of the funding is used for tenant-based rental assistance under the Section 8 "Mainstream Housing Opportunities for People with Disabilities" program.
Section 8 Vouchers and Certificate Programs
The Section 8 rental certificate program, created in the 1970’s, and the rental voucher program, created in the 1980’s, are to assist low-income families, elderly and individuals with disabilities to rent safe and decent housing of their choice. The Section 8 voucher and certificate programs pay landlords the difference between what the household can afford and the rent for the unit. When a rental voucher or certificate holder finds a unit, the PHA inspects the dwelling and reviews the lease prior to executing a housing assistance contract with the owner
The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program provides monthly rental assistance payments to private landlords on behalf of Section 8 participants, whose share of the rent is limited to 30-40 percent of their monthly income. People with disabilities receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits typically pay between $150-$200 per month towards monthly housing costs when they are receiving assistance through the Section 8 program.
The Section 8 voucher program is the Federal government’s largest housing assistance program, and is the only major HUD program still targeted to assist the lowest-income households below 30 percent of median income, including people with disabilities who rely on SSI and many others living on disability benefits. On April 22, HUD announced a significant change in its policy for funding Section 8 housing vouchers for FY 2004. In lieu of reimbursing Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) for the actual costs of the vouchers they are authorized to administer, HUD will cap funding at a PHAs voucher expenditure level as of May-June 2003. The expenditure level will be adjusted for average inflation in rental costs for voucher holders in their geographic region. Hundreds of PHAs across the country may likely be unable to fund all current voucher holders and may be forced to increase rent levels or withdraw vouchers.
The Section 8 Rental Certificate program allows low-income households to choose privately owned rental housing. Certificates are "tenant-based" with the qualifying households able to use them in any rental unit where the landlord agrees to participate in the program. Families apply to a local public housing authority (PHA) or administering governmental agency for a Section 8 certificate. The PHA pays the landlord the difference between 30 percent of the household's adjusted income and the unit's rent.
The Administration's Section 8 Proposals
Spending Cuts
The Bush Administration’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 budget proposal for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) calls for more than $1 billion in spending cuts for the Section 8 program for FY 2005, beginning just four months from now on October 1, 2004. These cuts could eliminate 250,000 vouchers currently in use, including an estimated 55,000 vouchers currently assisting people with disabilities.
To absorb cuts in funding, PHAs could raise rents for Section 8 program participants including people with disabilities. If a lack of funding forces PHAs to increase tenant rents, it would not take long for people with disabilities living on SSI or other disability benefits to fall behind in their rent.
The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that the Section 8 budget will need an additional $600 million over FY 2004 appropriations levels in order to continue funding all of the vouchers currently being used. This means that Congress must appropriate approximately $1.6 billion more than the Administration’s budget request in order to maintain the “current services” provided to Section 8 program participants.
Replace Section 8 with Flexible Voucher Program
The Administration has also proposed eliminating the Section 8 program and replacing it with a new Flexible Voucher Program. This new program, if approved by the Congress, would eliminate many critical protections people with disabilities now have under the current Section 8 program. Problems with the Flexible Voucher Program proposal include the following:
The new program converts Section 8 to a block grant with a goal of drastically cutting back the federal government’s financial commitment to the voucher program;
The new program targets higher-income households;
The new program could raise tenant rents;
The new program encourages time limits on assistance; and
The new program would eliminate policies that currently target over 50,000 vouchers exclusively to people with disabilities.
If enacted into law, the Flexible Voucher Program would convert the current “unit-based” Section 8 program into a “dollar-based” block grant. This means that Congress would no longer be responsible for appropriating sufficient funding for all units leased under the Flexible Voucher Program, as it now does under the Section 8 voucher program.
Under a block grant approach, Congress would simply appropriate an amount of money for the voucher program and it would be up to the PHAs that receive this money to “manage it.” A voucher program block grant would also make it easier for Congress to distance itself from the impact of cuts in federal housing funding, because it would be the PHAs, not Congress, who would make the difficult decisions necessary to manage the program with less money every year.
Contents were taken from the fact sheet, HOUSING FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES: THE CRISIS CONTINUES, produced AUCD (Association of University Centers on Disabilities), UCP, ARC, AAMR, and NACDD March 3; and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development website.
