Legal Framework
Federal Laws
The disability rights movement has brought about significant progress and increased opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Landmark legislation has created meaningful change for people with disabilities and opened doors to employment, education, housing and other access to community life.
Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides funding to not-for-profit 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 Section 811 program allows persons with disabilities to live as independently as possible in the community by increasing the supply of rental housing with the availability of supportive services. 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).
The Melville Act
The Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-374) makes many long-overdue reforms and improvements to the Housing and Urban Development Section 811 program. Most importantly, the law authorizes and/or incentivizes more integrated models supportive housing units by funding small set-asides of Section 811 units within affordable housing developments.
The Melville Act provides a strong Section 811 statutory foundation for community integration, tenancy rights, and voluntary services and supports, including programs that emphasize personal autonomy and choice. The new law specifies that one purpose of the Section 811 program is to expand the supply of supportive housing that “promotes and facilitates community integration for people with significant and long-term disabilities.”
Section 811 is a critical HUD program that assists the lowest income people with the most significant and long-term disabilities to live independently in the community by providing affordable housing linked with voluntary services and supports. Over the past decade, the Section 811 program has become less and less effective, creating fewer than 1,000 new units per year through an outdated law that did not reflect best practices in disability or supportive housing policies.
The new and reformed Section 811 program has important features, which are designed to create thousands of units of integrated permanent supportive housing every year by: (1) providing stronger incentives to leverage other sources of capital for 811 units, including federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits, HUD HOME funds, and bond financing; (2) authorizing a ‘stand alone’ Project Based Rental Assistance approach to help state and local governments systematically create integrated supportive housing units in affordable rental housing developments. The legislation also permanently transfers Section 811 funded vouchers to the Housing Choice Voucher program and ensures that other Housing Choice Vouchers appropriated by Congress for non-elderly people with disabilities continue to be used for that purpose.
Local Presence
The environment created by Section 811 and expanded by PL 111-374 created and supported the conditions for Marian Homes to voluntarily step forward to purchase and renovate homes. Through the combination of public environment created by the Federal government and private voluntary resources, we are providing critical mental health and human welfare services to this population.
Federal Laws
The disability rights movement has brought about significant progress and increased opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Landmark legislation has created meaningful change for people with disabilities and opened doors to employment, education, housing and other access to community life.
Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides funding to not-for-profit 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 Section 811 program allows persons with disabilities to live as independently as possible in the community by increasing the supply of rental housing with the availability of supportive services. 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).
The Melville Act
The Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-374) makes many long-overdue reforms and improvements to the Housing and Urban Development Section 811 program. Most importantly, the law authorizes and/or incentivizes more integrated models supportive housing units by funding small set-asides of Section 811 units within affordable housing developments.
The Melville Act provides a strong Section 811 statutory foundation for community integration, tenancy rights, and voluntary services and supports, including programs that emphasize personal autonomy and choice. The new law specifies that one purpose of the Section 811 program is to expand the supply of supportive housing that “promotes and facilitates community integration for people with significant and long-term disabilities.”
Section 811 is a critical HUD program that assists the lowest income people with the most significant and long-term disabilities to live independently in the community by providing affordable housing linked with voluntary services and supports. Over the past decade, the Section 811 program has become less and less effective, creating fewer than 1,000 new units per year through an outdated law that did not reflect best practices in disability or supportive housing policies.
The new and reformed Section 811 program has important features, which are designed to create thousands of units of integrated permanent supportive housing every year by: (1) providing stronger incentives to leverage other sources of capital for 811 units, including federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits, HUD HOME funds, and bond financing; (2) authorizing a ‘stand alone’ Project Based Rental Assistance approach to help state and local governments systematically create integrated supportive housing units in affordable rental housing developments. The legislation also permanently transfers Section 811 funded vouchers to the Housing Choice Voucher program and ensures that other Housing Choice Vouchers appropriated by Congress for non-elderly people with disabilities continue to be used for that purpose.
Local Presence
The environment created by Section 811 and expanded by PL 111-374 created and supported the conditions for Marian Homes to voluntarily step forward to purchase and renovate homes. Through the combination of public environment created by the Federal government and private voluntary resources, we are providing critical mental health and human welfare services to this population.