April 9, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New Report Identifies Ways States Can Create More Affordable Housing for Households with Disabilities and Other Extremely Low Income Households
WASHINGTON, DC – The Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC) and the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) are pleased to announce the release of Creating New Integrated Permanent Supportive Housing Opportunities for ELI Households: A Vision for the Future of the National Housing Trust Fund. This report highlights important innovations in affordable housing financing policy designed to benefit Extremely Low Income (ELI) households, including people with significant and long term disabilities who need Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH). The PSH approach is a highly cost-effective best practice housing strategy that combines ELI housing with voluntary community-based support services.
TAC’s report, which was co-authored by Ann O’Hara and Jim Yates, documents innovative non-traditional financing policies from the Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Illinois state housing agencies that are consistent with recommendations in a recent NLIHC companion report, Aligning Federal Low Income Housing Programs with Housing Need. NLIHC called for federal investments in housing to be better aligned with the nation’s need for housing affordable to ELI households, including robust funding for the new National Housing Trust Fund program.
“This report is an important resource as states are hungry to identify strategies to address the affordable housing crisis experienced by those with extremely low incomes and disabilities identified in NLIHC’s Alignment report,” said Kevin Martone, TAC’s Executive Director. “The significant ELI outcomes achieved by efforts in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Illinois to better align their state housing policies with ELI-PSH housing needs can and should be replicated by every state’s housing finance agency to address these urgent needs.”
Both reports focus on the needs of ELI households – defined as households with incomes between 0-30 percent of Area Median Income (AMI). Many of these households are homeless or living in restrictive and segregated settings for people with disabilities because of the extreme shortage of ELI-PSH housing. NLIHC reports that nationally there is a shortage of 7.1 million affordable and available ELI rental housing units and that this shortfall is a primary cause of homelessness across the United States. TAC’s report notes that the demand for ELI housing units for use as PSH has grown significantly during recent years and points to a new federal housing program – the National Housing Trust Fund – as an important new tool for financing new ELI and PSH units.
“With funds finally going into the National Housing Trust Fund, we have the opportunity to begin closing the enormous gap between the need for housing among extremely low income households and the supply,” said Sheila Crowley, President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “We are grateful to TAC for identifying state agencies that are thinking outside of the box to build integrated permanent supportive housing, and for highlighting their successes in this illuminating new report. It is our hope that every state agency tasked with administering the NHTF will use this report as a guide when deciding on the most efficient use of funds.”
The TAC report is available here.
The NLIHC report is available here.
CONTACT:
Kevin Martone, TAC, 617-266-5657 ext. 129
Sheila Crowley, NLIHC, 202-662-1530 ext. 226
About TAC
The Technical Assistance Collaborative, Inc. (TAC) is a national nonprofit organization that advances proven solutions to the housing and community support services needs of low-income people with disabilities and people who are homeless.
About NLIHC
Established in 1974 by Cushing N. Dolbeare, the National Low income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that assures people with the lowest income in the United States have affordable and decent homes.
###
National Low Income Housing Coalition
1000 Vermont, Avenue, NW, Suite 500, Washington DC 20005
202/662-1530; Fax 200/393-1973;
[email protected]
www.nlihc.org