Existing and Emerging ResourcesHousing Opportunities for People with Disabilities

HOUSING SEARCH RESOURCESwww.AccessVA.org: Access Virginia is an online housing registry designed to help Virginians with disabilities find accessible, affordable apartments and learn more about accessibility requirements and Universal Design. The site links to the Accessible Apartment Finder, a way for Virginians with disabilities to find an affordable, accessible place to live. The site also provides a variety of other information including an index of accessible housing resources ranging from home plans to accessible kitchen appliances.www.VirginiaHousingSearch.com: VirginiaHousingSearch.com is a housing locator service that provides detailed information about rental properties, including an accessible housing search tab with many specific accessibility features.www.BRAC.com: Blue Ridge Apartment Council is the industry association for rental property owners in the Charlottesville, Virginia area. Their website features an online housing search tool.

FUNDING RESOURCESCharlottesville’s CDBG Handicapped Access Grant Program is for homeowners or renters occupying structures that require repairs due to medical conditions which prohibit them from living safely in the home. Examples of repairs include ramps and roll-in showers.  www.charlottesville.org/Index.aspx?page=303 VHDA’s Rental Unit Accessibility Modification Program provides accessibility grants up to $1800 per rental unit to tenants with disabilities who earn 80% or less of the area median income (AMI). www.vhda.com/Renters/Pages/AccessibleRentalHousing.aspx VHDA’s Granting Freedom Program pays for modifications to make living spaces more accessible for military veterans who sustained injury during service. www.vhda.com/Programs/Pages/GrantingFreedom.aspx U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers grants to veterans or servicemembers who have specific service-connected disabilities for the purpose of constructing an adapted home or modifying an existing home to meet their adaptive needs.  www.homeloans.va.gov/sah.htm The New Well Fund is a low interest loan program that assists Virginians with disabilities to get the assistive technology they need, including home modifications. www.atlfa.org Virginia’s Livable Home Tax Credit provides state tax credits for the purchase of new units or retrofitting of residential units to improve accessibility and provide universal visitability. www.dhcd.virginia.gov/housingpreservationrehabilitation/PDFs/TAX_Credit_FinalGuidelines.pdf HUD Housing Vouchers enable people to lease affordable private housing of their choice by paying a portion of the rent. Piedmont Housing Alliance administers 75 of Mainstream Vouchers for people with disabilities, www.hud.gov/offices/pih/programs/hcv/pwd/mainstream.cfm, and Region Ten has vouchers for people diagnosed with mental illness.Charlottesville’s Rental Relief and Real Estate Tax Relief programs provide payment of grants to qualified City of Charlottesville tenants who are elderly or have a permanent and total disability. www.charlottesville.org/index.aspx?page=22

HOUSING PROGRAMSRegion Ten’s Residential Programs include congregate, in-home, and sponsored placement. www.regionten.org/services_intellectual.htm The Arc of the Piedmont, committed to providing community based services that are as natural as possible for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, operates 6 waiver residences and 1 ICF/MR, and also assists people to live in apartments with wrap around services. www.thearcofthepiedmont.org Independence Resource Center provides housing counseling services, housing placement assistance services, housing modification services, and housing advocacy services for people with disabilities in the region.Piedmont Housing Alliance administers Mainstream Housing Vouchers for people with disabilities; offers comprehensive housing counseling, financial literacy education, and fair housing services; and has a portfolio of accessible apartments and rental units. www.piedmonthousingalliance.org

Existing and Emerging ResourcesHousing Opportunities for People with Disabilities

OTHER RESOURCESGuide to Services for People with Disabilities, April 2010 edition, is a newly-updated comprehensive guide.Life After High School, www.lifeafterhs.org, is a source for valuable information and resources for transitioning students with disabilities, as well as for adults with disabilities.

EMERGING RESOURCESMicroboards, or Self-Directed Support Corporations (SDSCs), are an innovative mechanism for accessing individual control of services and funding resources. A SDSC is a legally established small corporation with a board of directors that can accept government support funding and arrange for the provision of needed services to one person with disabilities.  Its purpose is to enable that person to live a more independent and self-directed life fully integrated into the person’s community.  The SDSC is a means for family and friends of the person to be active partners with the person in organizing the kind of life that the person wants and is capable of having.  It provides a legal, businesslike mechanism for the person with disabilities, family members and allies in the community to work together to use government and private funds to provide housing, work, social and all other community opportunities available to other people in the person’s community. Websites of interest include:www.inclusionresearch.org/SDSC.html www.communityopportunities.org/page4.html www.auroraconsultingllc.org/microboards.html www.bridges4kids.org/pdf/Golden-Microboards.pdf www.tnmicroboards.org/index.htm Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are independent dwelling units either located on the same property as the primary single-family home or within the primary single-family home itself. Examples include an apartment over a garage, a basement apartment or an extension to the existing house. ADUs are becoming an increasingly popular technique for creating low- and moderate-income housing for both homeowners and renters. Homeowners benefit from the additional rental income that they can use to pay part of their mortgage payment or to help with the upkeep on their homes. Renters benefit from the availability of moderately priced rental housing in single-family neighborhoods. The community benefits from the addition of affordable housing for little or no public expense. www.tjpdc.org/pdf/housing/WhitePaper_ADU.pdf Homesharing Programs provide an affordable community housing option by matching home seekers (people looking for a room to rent) with home providers (people who have a room to rent). In partnership with JABA, TJPDC has completed the feasibility study of a potential Homesharing program in the region. The feasibility study indicates a need and support for initiating a program here. www.tjpdc.org/housing/index.asp Livable for a Lifetime is an initiative that grew out of the “2020 Plan: Aging in Community.” L4L’s purpose is to promote change in the practice, policy, design, and construction of homes and communities, as well as the community involvement necessary to achieve this change. L4L promotes the application of Universal Design in homes and communities. Universal Design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people regardless of their ability or age, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. www.livableforalifetime.org Home Modification Network is a developing online resource to help answer 3 important questions about home modifications: What are some modifications that can make my home more comfortable for me and my visitors? Who in my community can help me make these changes? How can I get help paying for it? www.livableforalifetime.org/homemod.htm Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA) has new mortgage financing products for microboards, sponsored placement, and congregates. www.vhda.com