This week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded $98.5 million to 285 local public housing authorities across the country to provide permanent affordable housing to nearly 12,000 additional non-elderly people with disabilities.
The housing assistance is provided through HUD's Section 811 Mainstream Housing Choice Voucher Program which provides funding to housing agencies to assist non-elderly people with disabilities who are:
- transitioning out of institutional or other separated settings;
- at serious risk of institutionalization;
- homeless; or
- at risk of becoming homeless.
This program helps to further the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act by helping persons with disabilities live in the most integrated setting. The program also encourages partnerships with health and human service agencies with a demonstrated capacity to coordinate voluntary services and supports to enable individuals to live independently in the community.