NLIHC Joins Appropriations Letter in Support of Accessible Housing for Seniors and People with Disabilities

By Kayla Blackwell, NLIHC Housing Policy Analyst and Sarita Kelkar, NLIHC Policy Intern  

NLIHC joined a Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities (CCD) appropriations letter for fiscal year (FY) 2026 urging Senate and House Committee on Appropriations’ chairs and other members to protect and expand funding for meaningful HUD vouchers and programs that assist older adults and people with disabilities access affordable housing in communities of their choice. Some of these programs include HUD’s Section 811 Program, Mainstream & Non-Elderly Disabled (NED) Housing Vouchers, the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), and Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHVs). The letter reiterates the equity and housing opportunities created by these resources while emphasizing the increased need for expansion, in a time when approximately 18 million adults with disabilities qualify for federal housing assistance but are not receiving it.  

Seniors and people with disabilities face unique barriers to living in affordable, accessible, and integrated housing. Affordability is a challenge when people with disabilities and seniors make up a large portion of the 7.4 million people who rely on Supplemental Security Income (SSI), receive an insufficient federal benefit rate, and are priced out of U.S. housing markets. Moreover, qualifications fail to match distributed benefits, where only 32% of low-income disabled people receive SNAP benefits and the number of disabled adults who qualify for federal housing assistance (18 million) grossly falls short of who receives housing supports. Institutionalization, or the act of moving disabled or older people to non-independent settings, is another threat to independence and housing security.  

Programs specific to assisting these populations access affordable and integrated housing are key to combating housing discrimination and instability. People with disabilities and older adults are already served across all HUD programs, with a percentage of each group assisted by the HCV, the Project Based Rental Assistance (PRBA) program, and the Public Housing program—but expanding specific funding only creates a greater benefit. For example, more than 125,000 households have been helped through Mainstream & NED Vouchers, and this only represents 2-4% of eligible extremely low-income, non-elderly, and disabled U.S. households.  

The letter urges Senate and House Appropriations Committee chairs to allocate: 

• Full funding for all HCV renewals, including Mainstream and NED Vouchers, including $500 million in new funding for an estimated 50,000 new Mainstream Vouchers to expand access to affordable housing.
• Full funding for all renewals of Section 811 Project Rental Assistance (PRA) and Project-Based Rental Assistance Contracts (PRACs), including $424 million for new Section 811 PRA awards, with a minimum of $8 million allocated to each state and territory.
• $125 million for the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), $36.6 million for the Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP), and $153 million for HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.
• Continued funding for the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program. 

Together, these asks increase accessibility and reach of HUD programs by expanding pathways to housing for disabled and senior households while lowering their barriers to affordable and accessible housing.  

Read more about people with disabilities’ barriers to accessing federal housing.  

Read the appropriations letter here.