Summary:
Service Coordinators assist elderly individuals
and persons with disabilities, living in federally-assisted multifamily
housing, to obtain needed supportive services from community agencies.
Services are intended to prevent premature and inappropriate institutionalization.
Purpose:
Independent living with assistance is a
preferable, lower cost housing alternative to institutionalization
for many frail older persons and persons with disabilities. An estimated
365,000 persons living in HUD-assisted housing experience some form
of frailty, and this number will increase as people living in those
units grow older. By arranging for delivery of some services, Service
Coordinators can extend the length and improve the quality of independent
living.
Type
of Assistance:
HUD provides funding through
three mechanisms at this time: (1) a national competition with other
properties for a limited amount of grant funding, (2) the use of
the development's residual receipts or excess income, or (3) budget-based
rent increases or special rent adjustments.
Eligible
Grantees:
Owners of Section 202, Section
8, Section 221(d)(3) below-market interest rate, and Section 236
developments may apply for funding. Eligibility for grant funding
is limited to those developments designed for the elderly and persons
with disabilities, including any such building within a mixed-use
project originally designed for them or where the owner gives preferences
in tenant selection (with HUD approval).
Eligible
Customers:
Service Coordinators can serve
residents who are elderly or have a disability. "Elderly" is defined
as age 62 or older. "Disabled" is defined three ways: 1) has a disability
as defined in Section 223 of the Social Security Act; 2) has a physical,
mental, or emotional impairment expected to be of long, continued,
and indefinite duration that impedes the individual's ability to
live independently, or 3) has a developmental disability.
Eligible
Activities:
Service Coordinator program
funding covers service coordinator salaries and fringe benefits,
training, quality assurance, and relevant administrative expenses.
Service coordinators assess resident needs; identify and link residents
to appropriate services, and monitor the delivery of services. Services
involve activities of residents' daily living (ADLs), such as eating,
dressing, bathing, grooming, transferring, and home management.
A service coordinator may also educate residents about what services
are available and how to use them, and help residents build informal
support networks with other residents, family, and friends. The
service coordinator may not require any elderly or disabled family
to accept the supportive services.
Application:
An annual Notice of Funding Availability
(NOFA) announces funding for new grants. The NOFA provides all eligibility
criteria and application submission information. Development owners
may request use of residual receipts, excess income, or a budget-based
rent increase or special rent adjustment for the purpose of hiring
a Service Coordinator at any time, following guidance in the Office
of Housing's Management Agent Handbook 4381.5, Revision-2, Change-2,
Chapter 8. See HUDCLIPS for a list of current NOFAs.
Funding
Status:
In
Federal fiscal year 2006, HUD awarded 75 grants for a total of $12,105,849.
These grants will serve 78 developments, with a total of 6,038 units.
Technical
Guidance:
Legislative authority for Service
Coordinators in Assisted Housing includes Section 808 of the Cranston-Gonzalez
National Affordable Housing Act (NAHA) (42 USC 8012), which amended
Section 202 of the Housing Act of 1959 [12 USC 1701 q (g)]. The
Housing and Community Development Act Amendments of 1992 amended
Section 808 through Sections 674 and 677, and added Sections 675
and 676. section 851 of the American Homeownership and Economic
Opportunity Act of 2000 (Pub.L. 106-569, further amended these Acts,
allowing Service Coordinators to serve low-income elderly and disabled
persons living in the vicinity of the development served by the
grant.
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