"Olmstead" Housing vouchers greatly improved

with Waitlists and Admissions Preferences

Richard Cho

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Senior Advisor for Housing and Services

Val's Take:

THIS IS HUGE!  

States have not  substantially complied with the HOUSING component of Olmstead.

Olmstead  is the 1999 US Supreme Court decision holding that the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibited the unnecessary institutionalization  of people with disabilities.

Olmstead specifically assumed a State Plan for People with Disabilities, and  required that plan to be:

• Comprehensive
• Effectively Working, and
• Waitlists moving at a Reasonable Pace

Currently, Olmstead and subsequent caselaw are designed to prevent:

• Unnecessary institutionalization of people with disabilities, or
• The risk of institutionalization.

Housing is expensive!    If you live in Colorado, you know that.

People with Disabilities and States have needed the FEDS to step up --- and they STEPPED UP.

We are grateful!

Hud takes action to Support Community Living for People with Disabilities

HUD’s Mainstream Voucher program is a special purpose voucher for people with disabilities.

I often think of them as “community living” vouchers or “Olmstead” vouchers.

But until now, there were challenges with using these vouchers to quickly connect people with disabilities leaving institutional settings or homelessness to community based housing and supportive services.

I’m excited that today [August 27, 2024] U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced new requirements and flexibilities for Mainstream Vouchers that make them an even more effective tool for supporting community living.

First, public housing agencies that administer Mainstream Vouchers can now establish separate waiting lists and also establish admissions preferences that prioritize people referred by the services agencies that support community living or ending homelessness for people with disabilities.

Second, PHAs [Public Housing Authorities] must allow at least 120 days to help people find an accessible and affordable unit, along with 90-day extensions.

These flexibilities and new requirements open the door to new partnerships between PHAs [Public Housing Authorities] and Medicaid, Centers for Independent Living, Continuums of Care, and state mental health and IDD [Intellectual or Developmental Disability] agencies to help further the goals of Olmstead v. L.C.

Very proud of this!

[Why did the U.S. Supreme Court Justices in 1999 assume the States had a "State Plan" for People with Disabilities?

 Georgia  (and other  States) told them that.  

Further, that is why the Justices held that the States could not be required to make a "FUNDAMENTAL ALTERATION" to the STATE PLAN.

You can imagine that has been subject to considerable interpretation.

The big flies in the ointment:     MOST STATES don't have a comprehensive, effectively working plan for people with disabilities or waitlists moving at a reasonable pace.]