Information Bulletin #247 from Steve Gold, May 06, 2008
HOME Investment Partnership funds can be used for new construction, rehabilitation, and acquisition in either home ownership or rental units.
HOME funds can also be used for Tenant-Based Rental Assistance - housing vouchers that tenants can use to supplement their rental payments. These are very similar to the Housing Choice Vouchers, aka, Section 8 vouchers.
Federal HOME funds are distributed in each State so that 60% of the HOME funds awarded to a State are allocated to local "Participating Jurisdictions" based on population size. However, 40% of the HOME funds are awarded to a State-wide housing entity, most often (but not always) the Housing Finance Agency,.
In dollars, $1.218 billion federal HOME dollars were allocated in 2006, of which about $434 million (that's approximately the 40%) went to state-wide housing finance agencies.
It's these 40% of the HOME funds, $434 million, that could be used to assist persons to transition from nursing homes back to the community.
It's these federal funds that a State could use to assist persons to live in the community.
Unfortunately, many States and Governors can see only one thing at a time; nursing home's Medical Assistance expenditures versus HOME funds. Many of our Governors do not seem to understand that if they used their HOME funds to help people transition from nursing homes, their States will reduce/save its Medical Assistance expenditures.
Given how many Governors complain about Medical Assistance expenditures, one might think they would try to save such expenditures when they could.
Below find by State the number of units and HOME funds that State Housing Finance Agencies used for Tenant-Based Rental Assistance. We do not know, however, if these Tenant-Based Rental Assistance grants were tied to helping people transition out of nursing homes.
Elderly and disability advocates should be demanding their Housing Finance Agencies (or other State housing agencies that administer the 40%) use these funds to transition people out of institutions.
In the following list, we provide in the first column the Total 2006 federal HOME $ Available to State Housing Agency, and in the second column the number of Tenant Based Rental Assistance vouchers issued and the dollar amount of 2006HOME funds used for those vouchers.
Alabama ..... .............$16m............N/AV
Alaska ......................$3m ............0 TBRA units
Arizona .....................$8m .......N/AV
Arkansas....................$12.7m ........248 TBRA units @ $1.2m
Delaware................... $3m ........ N/AV
D. C.......................... N/AV ..........N/AV
Florida...................... $21.5m .......938 TBRA units @ $17.9m
Georgia.................... $22.2m.... .... 0 TBRA units
Hawaii.......................$3m ....... 0 TBRA units
Idaho........................$5.7m ...... 0 TBRA units
Illinois.......................$22.4m ....... 0 TBRA units
Indiana..................... N/AV....... N/AV
Iowa....................... $10.2m ....... 25 TBRA units @ $144,000
Kansas...................... $7.7m ...... 301 TBRA units @ $1.3m
Kentucky................... $ 7.3m ..... 604 TBRA units @ $1.5m
Louisiana.................. $14.8m......... 0 TBRA units
Maine...................... $6.6m...... 334 TBRA units@ $2.5m
Maryland................. $ 7.5m...... 27 TBRA units @ $15,137
Massachus............... $ 13.8m ....... 0 TBRA units
Michigan...................$21.6m ...... 665 TBRA units @ $11.2m
Minnesota............... $9.7m..........N/AV
Missouri.................. $15.6m ....... 0 TBRA units
Montana.....................$4.3m ...... 0 TBRA units
Nevada..................... $3m ............ 0 TBRA units
New Hampshire...........$4.7m..... 0 TBRA units
New Mexico................ $7.5m........ 616 TBRA units @ $549,575
New York ................ $35.6m ...........0 TBRA units
North Carolina............$ 19.1m............0 TBRA units
Ohio........................$9.9m........... 0 TBRA units
Oklahoma...................$11.7m ........ 0 TBRA units
Oregon.....................$10.7m........1,251 TBRA units @$3m
Pennsylvania...............$10.2 m.... N/AV
Rhode Island............... $5.1m........... 0 TBRA units
South Carolina............ $10.5m........ 123 TBRA units @ $875,000
South Dakota.............. $3.5m .......N/AV
Tennessee..................$16m........... 0 TBRA units
Texas......................$37.5m ........775 TBRA units @$3.9m
West Virginia...................$9.3m ........N/AV
Wyoming ....................$3.5m .........0 TBRA units
Nation....................$434.9m........5,907 TBRA units @ $44 m
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. To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com or call 215-627-7100.