Grant to help communities meet housing needs for people with disabilities

North Carolina residents with disabilities may see some improvements in the coming months in the availability of affordable housing.

The needed changes will be due in part to the efforts of a team operating out of the Department of Health and Human Services through a Real Choice Systems Change grant, Integrating Long-Term Supports with Affordable Housing in North Carolina.

“We look forward to reaching out to local communities to support their efforts to create housing that is affordable, and accessible to people with disabilities,” said Tara Peele, leader of the four-member team. “Our goal is to increase the capacity of local communities to access housing resources – capacity that will survive long after the grant funds have run out.”

The grant, which started last September, runs for three years. It is funded through the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. It is a partnership among CMS, DHHS and the N.C. Housing Finance Agency. It provides for Peele and three others who each spearhead efforts in assigned geographic areas of the state: Walter Vincent, eastern; Kim Douglass, central; and Kay Johnson, western. They will provide support to local communities to expand their ability to meet their identified needs for affordable housing.

The first goal of the grant is to help implement the DHHS partnership in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program. In North Carolina, 10 percent of all low-income housing tax credit units must be set aside for people with disabilities. Since 2002, about 500 tax credit housing units have been funded specifically for people with disabilities. “We’re trying to make sure they actually get referred into the units, and have access to supportive services,” Peele said.

The grant team will coordinate through agencies that refer people into tax credit units – those who advocate for independent living, local shelters, vocational rehabilitation, local human services agencies. “Then we’re going to form local housing support committees with consumers, advocates, human services, and staff, to do needs assessments locally. That will increase their knowledge of what is and is not there and hopefully increase their ability to call attention the needs in their communities.”

Currently the folks who may benefit are living in assisted living facilities, with families, in shelters, or doubled up in shared housing. Many receive SSI, which provides hardly enough to meet their living expenses. The grant’s efforts will support the state’s long-term care plan, which supports people who choose to live in their communities.

For additional information please contact:
Team Leader Tara Peele, 919-733-4534 or Tara.Peele@ncmail.net
Eastern Region Walter Vincent, 910-620-0467 or Walter.Vincent@ncmail.net
Central Region Kim Douglass, 910-303-0069, 919-855-4419 or Kim.F.Douglass@ncmail.net
Western Region Kay Johnson, 704-619-6716 or Kay.R.Johnson@ncmail.net

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Last Modified: June 29, 2005 June 30, 2005