NJ receives $6.9M from HUD to assist people living with disabilities

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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Thursday announced it awarded more than $74 million in grants to 12 state housing finance agencies to support affordable rental housing for extremely low-income persons with disabilities.

The awards will support up to five years of rental assistance for approximately 2,400 units of housing in buildings participating in project rental assistance through HUD’s Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program.

New Jersey Housing Mortgage Finance Agency, in Trenton, will receive $6,878,923.

“We are committed to ensuring that extremely low-income persons with disabilities have access to safe, sanitary, accessible, and affordable rental homes with the supportive services they need to live independently,” said HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “The Trump Administration has strongly supported our efforts to serve this population, including making $15 million in supplemental funds available under the CARES Act to help prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.”

The grants were awarded to state housing agencies that are working closely with their state Medicaid and Health and Human Services counterparts to identify, refer and conduct outreach to persons with disabilities who require long-term services to live independently.

The state housing agencies will use the funds to identify systemic approaches for providing rental subsidies to multifamily properties with units targeted specifically for use by extremely low-income persons with disabilities.

HUD provides rental assistance to more than 35,000 households through its Section 811 program. The program supports increasing the supply of accessible rental housing units for individuals with disabilities by integrating these units within existing, new or renovated multifamily developments; creating effective, successful and sustainable partnerships between state housing agencies and state Health and Human Services/Medicaid agencies to provide permanent housing for persons with disabilities with access to appropriate supportive services, and identifying innovative and replicable ways for using and leveraging Project Rental Assistance funds.

New Jersey was one of 12 states that received an award alongside Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina and Texas.