Thursday, April 26, 2012
Mortgage Foreclosures and People with Disabilities. Information Bulletin #356 (4/2012)
On Sunday, April 22, 2012, Secretary of HUD, Shaun Donovan, met with several hundred ADAPT members in Washington, D.C. During a lively question and answer period, one suggestion particularly raised our interest and we wanted to share it. This suggestion to Secretary Donovan came via ADAPT member Eleanor Smith founder of Concrete Change.
Several million families have lost their homes to mortgage foreclosures in the past few years. Many of these foreclosed homes stand vacant.
These homes are owned by HUD, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and/or many, many banks.
Here is a suggestion that could have a direct impact on people with disabilities who need accessible housing.
HUD, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Banks which hold these foreclosed homes should:
1. Identify (and publicize) which of these homes have a “no step” entrance and/or a one-step entrance.
2. Prioritize these homes, using the no step properties before the one step units.
3. Identify those foreclosed homes which also have a bathroom where the door entrance could be widened to 32” without moving a wall.
Those identified properties are the easiest and cheapest to make minimally accessible.
4. Require that this basic access be built into the resale of each foreclosed home.
5. Those identified properties should be advertised to people (and families) with disabilities who need accessible homes.
6. Funds for both making these units accessible and for purchasing them exist in your local and state-wide HOME Investment Partnership program and the Community Development Block Grant program and probably other programs.
7. Tax credits (banks always like those) and tax deductions are available to meet accessibility costs.
If your community has addressed this issue, please send us information.
Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues
Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at http://www.stevegoldada.com
with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects.
As of August, 2010, Information Bulletins will also be posted on my blog located at http://stevegoldada.blogspot.com/
To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada1@gmail.com or call 215-627-7100. Ext 227.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Affordable, Accessible Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Apartments in Pennsylvania.
Affordable, Accessible Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Apartments in Pennsylvania. Information Bulletin # 355 (4/2012)
In 2003-04, Philadelphia’s Liberty Resources Center (“CIL”) and Pennsylvania ADAPT met with officials from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (“PHFA”), the state agency that administers the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program. The purpose of the meetings was to explain the dire housing needs of low-income persons with disabilities, to advocate for increasing affordable, accessible housing, and to ensure accessible units were actually occupied by people who needed those features.
This Information Bulletin describes the successful results of those advocacy efforts.
In 2005, PHFA first offered incentives to LIHTC housing developers to increase the number of accessible apartments and to make them affordable at 20% of the Area Median Income (AMI). A special internal management fee was made available so housing developers could deeply subsidize units to an affordable level.
As a result of this and other PHFA initiatives, as of 12/31/2011 there were more than 1250 affordable and/or accessible apartments financed with LIHTC (but about half have not been completed or were not occupied at that time) in Pennsylvania.
The 20% AMI affordability structure is based on the goal that these apartments should be affordable to households whose only income is Social Security Income. The SSI level is sufficient to pay rent without being rent “burdened” in 38 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties and is within $1000 annual income in 12 additional counties.
PHFA works with the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, the Medicaid state agency that is supposed to move people from nursing homes to the community, in their effort to establish local clearinghouse organizations to streamline the process for assuring that appropriate candidates are referred in a timely fashion for specific income, accessibility and service targeted units.
Here are the results:
• Of the 634 accessible units actually occupied (as distinguished from “financed) as of 12/31/2011, 78% were occupied by people needing the accessibility features.
• This means there were 495 affordable, accessible LITCH apartments occupied by 495 people and their families who are on SSI and require an accessible unit.
• 48% of households occupying these units are at or below 20% of the Area Median Income. (This includes persons using housing choice vouchers and other rental assistance resources, as well as the tax credit units affordable at 20% AMI.)
Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues
Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at http://www.stevegoldada.com
with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects.
As of August, 2010, Information Bulletins will also be posted on my blog located at http://stevegoldada.blogspot.com/
To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada1@gmail.com or call 215-627-7100. Ext 227.
In 2003-04, Philadelphia’s Liberty Resources Center (“CIL”) and Pennsylvania ADAPT met with officials from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (“PHFA”), the state agency that administers the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program. The purpose of the meetings was to explain the dire housing needs of low-income persons with disabilities, to advocate for increasing affordable, accessible housing, and to ensure accessible units were actually occupied by people who needed those features.
This Information Bulletin describes the successful results of those advocacy efforts.
In 2005, PHFA first offered incentives to LIHTC housing developers to increase the number of accessible apartments and to make them affordable at 20% of the Area Median Income (AMI). A special internal management fee was made available so housing developers could deeply subsidize units to an affordable level.
As a result of this and other PHFA initiatives, as of 12/31/2011 there were more than 1250 affordable and/or accessible apartments financed with LIHTC (but about half have not been completed or were not occupied at that time) in Pennsylvania.
The 20% AMI affordability structure is based on the goal that these apartments should be affordable to households whose only income is Social Security Income. The SSI level is sufficient to pay rent without being rent “burdened” in 38 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties and is within $1000 annual income in 12 additional counties.
PHFA works with the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, the Medicaid state agency that is supposed to move people from nursing homes to the community, in their effort to establish local clearinghouse organizations to streamline the process for assuring that appropriate candidates are referred in a timely fashion for specific income, accessibility and service targeted units.
Here are the results:
• Of the 634 accessible units actually occupied (as distinguished from “financed) as of 12/31/2011, 78% were occupied by people needing the accessibility features.
• This means there were 495 affordable, accessible LITCH apartments occupied by 495 people and their families who are on SSI and require an accessible unit.
• 48% of households occupying these units are at or below 20% of the Area Median Income. (This includes persons using housing choice vouchers and other rental assistance resources, as well as the tax credit units affordable at 20% AMI.)
Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues
Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at http://www.stevegoldada.com
with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects.
As of August, 2010, Information Bulletins will also be posted on my blog located at http://stevegoldada.blogspot.com/
To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada1@gmail.com or call 215-627-7100. Ext 227.
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