The Chicago Housing Authority has received more than $725,000 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide 50 new vouchers for families that include non-elderly persons with disabilities.
The recent award is part of a $24.7 million allotment from HUD that is being distributed among 98 Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) across the country to provide permanent affordable housing to non-elderly persons with disabilities. The award will allow PHAs to house up to 2,210 additional families while further supporting community integration for persons with disabilities. The 50 vouchers that CHA will receive is among the largest such allocations in the nation.
“CHA is a major housing provider for people with disabilities. In fact, roughly 35 percent of families in our housing programs report at least one household member as having a disability of some kind,” said CHA CEO Tracey Scott. “We commend HUD for making these additional resources available so that more families who have a loved one with a disability have the security of long-term, affordable housing.”
The assistance is provided through HUD’s Section 811 Mainstream Housing Choice Voucher Program. It offers funding to housing agencies to assist non-elderly persons with disabilities who are transitioning out of institutional or other isolated settings, at serious risk of institutionalization, homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless. Mainstream partners, including Centers for Independent Living, state protection and advocacy agencies, Medicaid agencies, and Continuums of Care, collaborate with the PHAs to assist with the application and housing search process.
HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said: “People with disabilities deserve access to affordable housing that meets their needs. Today’s funding is an important step forward – one that will help more persons with disabilities serve as fully integrated members of their communities and allow them to live independently and with dignity.”
The 50 new vouchers are in addition to substantial support CHA currently provides for families that include a person with a disability:
- CHA has 1,166 tenant-based vouchers allocated for non-elderly persons with disabilities.
- CHA’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program provides vouchers that are higher than the usual payment standards for applicants with a person in the family who need accessible units.
- All CHA public housing developments meet the minimum number of required accessibility units, and in many cases exceed the minimum requirements. CHA increases the number of accessible and/or adaptable units whenever a renovation project takes place.
- CHA provides rental assistance to more than 550 units that assist households with a disability through its Project Based Voucher (PBV) program.
