Rental Assistance for Non-elderly Disabled Families in Support of Designated Housing Allocation Plans

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Summary:
HUD provides Section 8 rental vouchers and certificates to Public housing authorities (PHAs) that have approved plans to designate certain housing as elderly-only, disabled-only, or mixed elderly and disabled households to enable persons with disabilities to rent affordable housing. Approved plans must be consistent with total affordable housing needs of the community.

Purpose:
For a variety of reasons over the past few years, public housing that once was largely or exclusively occupied by elderly people now has increasing percentages of non-elderly, disabled tenants. This mixing has sometimes caused problems. In 1992, Congress tried to reach a compromise among competing fair housing needs by permitting PHAs to designate separate housing facilities for the elderly and for persons with disabilities without reducing housing for those with disabilities.

PHAs interested in designating some of their housing were required to submit housing plans that established the need to designate while ensuring that affordable housing needs of the whole community would be met. Additional Section 8 rental vouchers and certificates help meet those needs. HUD provides Section 8 voucher and certificate funds to PHAs to address the housing needs of non-elderly, disabled families affected by designated housing plans.

Type of Assistance:
This program offers assistance by allocating Section 8 vouchers and certificates to the PHAs for use by affected non-elderly, disabled families.

Eligible Grantees:
Only PHAs that have an approved designated housing plan are eligible for this program. Indian housing authorities are not eligible

Eligible Customers:
Non-elderly, disabled households who live in public housing that has been designated for occupancy by the elderly only or disabled families who are on the PHA's public housing waiting list may receive a rental voucher or certificate in conjunction with a designated housing allocation plan approved by HUD.

Eligible Activities:
These Section 8 rental vouchers and certificates are provided to PHAs to help them carry out their designated housing allocation plans.

Application:
A PHA wanting to designate projects or portions thereof for elderly families or for disabled families must have developed a designated housing allocation plan, consistent with HUD guidelines, and have submitted it to HUD for review. The requirements for the contents of the plan and the statutory provisions are contained in Notice PIH 97-12; go to Hudclips. This Notice and the requirements it describes apply only to projects (or portions of projects) operated by PHAs under the low-income public housing program. This plan must also have been submitted to the unit of government responsible for the Consolidated Plan. When a HUD Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) announces the availability of Section 8 rental vouchers and certificates related to designated housing allocation plans, PHAs must follow the instructions in the NOFA.

Funding Status:
For fiscal year (FY) 97, the NOFA provided $50 million (2,159 Section 8 rental vouchers and certificates) for non-elderly families affected by designation of public housing projects. The FY 98 Appropriations Act provides $40 million.

Technical Guidance:
Legislative authority to provide Section 8 rental assistance in support of designated housing allocation plans is found at Section 7 of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437e). HUD's FY 1997 Appropriations Act, 105-65, approved October 27, 1997, contains language authorizing the use of Section 8 rental voucher and certificate funding for housing agencies to implement designated housing allocation plans approved by the Secretary. Nothing in this Act relieves a PHA from complying with Federal civil rights laws, including Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Fair Housing Act, or the Americans with Disabilities Act. This program is administered by HUD's Office of Public and Indian Housing.

For More Information:
For details of these provisions, see Notice PIH 97-12 in HUDCLIPS. The same Web site posts HUD notices and NOFAs.

For questions about the statutory requirements for development of the designated housing plan, PHAs should call for technical assistance from the Office of Public and Assisted Housing Delivery in the Office of Public and Indian Housing at HUD Headquarters; the telephone number is (202) 708-0744.