1 Making Housing a Home -- Part II. Presenters: Jay Klein and Paul Ford. >> OPERATOR: Good afternoon and welcome to the housing part II teleconference. Today's host will be Tim Fuchs. During the discussions all participants will be muted. At this time, I will now turn your call over to Mr. Fuchs. >> TIM: Thank you, Matt. Good afternoon everybody and welcome back to Part II of our housing teleconference making housing a home and today's Part II teleconference is aimed at strategies and steps to locate and acquire accessible, affordable and integrated housing. And this webcast, as was Part I is hosted by IL NET, a program of ILRU and NCIL through grant funding provided by the Rehabilitation Services Administration. And again, if you weren't on Wednesday's call, I'm Tim Fuchs, operations director for NCIL and IL NET training coordinator and I will again just be taking a few moments of your time to remind you of a few housekeeping issues. For those of you that are on the webcast today, you'll be able to ask questions as well, and the way you can do that is simply to E-mail your 2 question to webcast@ilru.org. And again that's webcast@ilru.org. And I want to remind everybody that you can E-mail your questions at any time during the call. You don't need to wait for a Q. and A. session and these questions will be relayed live on the call -- relayed and answered live on the call. For those of you participating in the teleconference, the same run down, to ask a question you simply need to press 0, 1 on your telephone key pad and, again, you can dial 0, 1 on your phone to be lined up for a question at any time during the call. You don't need to wait for a Q. and A. session. We'll be breaking for questions and answers every 10 to 12 minutes during the call and you will be lined up for the next available Q. and A. If you have any difficulties logging on to the webcast today, the best way to get that solved is to call ILRU at (713)520-0232. They'll walk you through the process and make sure you can get online. I will also want to remind everybody that Paul and Jay have provided some excellent handouts and materials and even a couple full manuals to follow along on the call and to help you do your jobs once the call is over. So if you have not already, please go to the NCIL website to get those materials and I'm going to give that you web address now. It's fairly lengthy, www.NCIL.org/training/housingmaterials.html. Again, you should have received an E-mail probably several times this week, but at least today reminding you of that url before we started. Before we start with the presentation today, I'll just mention we didn't receive any evaluations from the Part I call and in the interest of gaining 3 feedback, but also in the interest of answering any lingering questions you may have, I want to take about five or ten minutes now to give everyone an opportunity to ask any questions they may have or for any clarification on Wednesday's material. And again, the Part I call concerning funding options. And so if you'd like to do that now, Paul and Jay are -- have graciously offered to take a moment out of today's presentation to answer questions. So if you will, you can dial 0, 1 on your phone or E-mail your question to webcast@ilru.org and we'll take a moment now to do that. Matt, would you mind lining up the queue. >> OPERATOR: Yes, if you have any questions at this time press 0, and then 1 at telephone key pad. There are currently no questions or comments in queue. I'm sorry, we had one come from Gordon black. Go ahead, Gordon. >> CALLER: Hello. >> OPERATOR: Yes, go ahead. >> CALLER: My name is Howard. Yeah, I don't know if you mentioned this a minute ago, but I just got here. Can you just give me in a nutshell what this training is about or -- because no one really told me anything about this, what this is regarding. I mean, I know it's regarding housing, but what is the general topic in a nutshell? >> TIM: Paul, would you mind taking that one? >> PAUL: Sure, on Wednesday we covered a number of different programs that can be used for the development of housing, such as Section 8 funding, individual accounts, low income housing tax credits and so on. Today's call will focus on the actual nuts and bolts of working with 4 individuals on finding housing, acquiring housing, the whole process of helping someone to get into housing in an affordable, accessible, integrated community. >> CALLER: Okay. All right, that answers it for me. Thank you. >> OPERATOR: Again, if you have any other questions or comments, please press 0, 1. >> TIM: Okay, doesn't sound like we have anymore questions. Paul, why don't we go ahead with the presentation. And so anyway, thank you all. You'll have a chance to ask more questions throughout the call, but without further ado, I'll turn it over now to start Part II of our presentation with Paul Ford. Paul... >> PAUL: Thank you. As Jay said yesterday, I'm very honored to be here with you all and hope by the end of this call you'll have some information that you can take back to your centers or your work sites and actually use in helping people obtain housing in the community. Settings that are both affordable, accessible, and integrated. Jay Klein is also with us. He took the lead on Wednesday's call and so today it's my turn. But Jay is going to be chiming in with information and examples that he may have, and Jay has pretty extensive knowledge of what exists nationally. So we're really going to rely on him for sort of national examples. My experience is little more focused on hear in Connecticut, although much of it is applicable almost anywhere. I have two materials -- to pieces of material that went out that I'll be referenced throughout the call, one is a training manual -- or a manual that was developed here in Connecticut. It's called finding your home, a 5 housing guide to resources in Connecticut and it's a transition guide -- a companion to our transition guide. And the other is a product of the technical assistance collaborative in on Boston, Massachusetts. Called Section 8 made simple using the section housing choice voucher. Can you do that online by doing a search on Section 8 made simple or going to the website. And I'll apologize in advance. I'm going to try and reference page numbers where applicable, but the materials that I sent Tim were translated and sometimes in the translation process of shifting from one format to another pages may change by one or two. So if I give awe page and it's not exactly what I'm talking about, it's may be one or two pages forward or backward from where we are. I wanted to go back to Wednesday's call just a little bit. We talked about various programs and resources that be can be used to develop housing and the concept of blending these to come up with affordable, accessible integrated housing for people in the community. And I always think that when we're working with someone, there is really two problems: There is the problem that brings them through the door to us and then there is the systemic problems that left them where they are. So while it's very important to work with people on obtaining housing and getting into housing and making sure that it's safe and affordable and accessible, it's also important to work on the insures of developing housing and also making sure that the existing stock of subsidized housing, accessible housing, subsidies and supports remain there. When I first started with our project here in Connecticut, I was shown some drawings and a concept paper for a development in Bridgeport, 6 Connecticut. That was in 2003. And this project has opened in June and is now housing 25 people in brand new, beautiful apartments. Had we not -- had the folks here in Connecticut not done their work, that housing option wouldn't exist today. So by working on both sides of the issue, we're trying to reduce the need or the problems that people will be facing in the future. The first thing that I focus on when we're working with someone is identifying what they really need and what they really want, and recognizing consumer control in doing this is a very person-centered planning way, drawing out what their strengths and abilities are, what they want and what they need. Because if you don't do that, people will end up in situations where they may not be any happier than they were or even in worse situations. I put a note in my materials about first things first, some sort of really basic learning from here in Connecticut. These are things that can sort of stop you dead in your tracks if you don't do the work early on. And that's some very basic stuff, and these post 9/11 days with the patriot act and other factors, having documents is really important, so usually when I'm meeting with a consumer, one of the first areas I want to get into is do they have their documents? Because it may take some time to get them, and if they are not there, that's something you're going to need to start working on right away. Basically you're looking for a couple of things, something that identifies the individual and something that proves their right to be in this country because both of those will be required when you're looking for 7 housing. And that means birth certificate, Social Security card, photo I.D., a VISA or green card and making sure those documents are current. Its e also important to take a look at problems that may keep someone from housing. They are usually not unsolvable, it's just it's going to take some time to figure them out. Those are credit problems, histories of past evictions, debts to housing authorities or utility companies, and criminal history. So I'll talk about those a little bit farther down in the call, but it's important to ask those questions right up front and begin looking at those because if any of those factors intervene, they really can keep someone from housing. So it's important to start dealing with them right at the very start of the process. It's also important that people know how to get verification of their income. If they are on Social Security, it's a fairly simple matter of visiting the Social Security office or requesting it, but if people have other sources of income, at some point they are going to need to provide verification of that. It will be important to get those. In the Connecticut manual on Page 7, there is a chart of different types of housing and it's perhaps not all inclusive, but it takes a look at different types of housing and what people are responsible for in different settings, everything from who pays the utility to who shovels the snow to who takes out the garbage and all of those factors that are important. So it's good to take a look at that. It's designed to sort of a self-assessment to help people identify what they are going to need and what they can live with and what they can't live with. It's also important to take a look at what you or the individual want 8 or need. Beginning on Page 24 in the housing manual, we also have an assessment in housing and it takes a look at a wide variety of different things. I call some of this considerations beyond bricks and mortar. The importance of not only thinking short term, but also long term, things that the individual may want to become involved with at some point in the future. And if those aren't part of the planning, they may get missed. Things like maybe they are not ready for work, but if working or employment is something that they would be interested at in point, are there opportunities to work near where they want to live? Is there transportation available to get there? Also more basic considerations like pharmacies, is there a pharmacy that will deliver or one that the individual or a PCA can get to. Things like faith communities, if a faith community is important to someone, it would be incumbent to look at what is near the housing that you're looking at, does public transportation run on weekends? In the town I live in until just very recently there was no weekend transportation, so if you wanted to go to church, you needed to either plan otherwise or live close to a church. I also think it's important to think functionally and include people's dreams and hopes. I worked with one woman here in Connecticut, who didn't really have a lot of wants or needs. She said I'm a very simple woman and I'm not looking for anything fancy. But we asked her what were you looking for and what would you really hope for? And she said, well, the one thing I'd like is to be able to look out the window and see trees and plants. I don't want to see people walking by or cars or a parking lot or anything like that. 9 When she finally got into housing, it was a very simple one room apartment, basically furnished. She was immensely happy. The one window looked out on a wooded area. So it's important to take a look at those things. Another question that I've learned to ask quite often is why. People tell you, well I want to get out of a nursing home and into housing. And we ask why? And that often leads to other discussions which are going to be important to the planning. For example, we had one gentleman who after asking why several times said that he wanted his girlfriend to be able to visit. And that's certainly important. Well, he was able to get around with a cane, but his girlfriend was a wheelchair user. So it became important as we looked for housing opportunities that it was one that was on accessible transportation and that at least had front door accessibility. Location is also important. Shopping, recreation, family and friends and we also encourage consumers to consider beyond the area that they are immediately thinking of, because the wider area you consider, the better your options are for actually finding something. It's important to remember that it's not forever. It can be a stepping stone to what you really want. So for someone leaving the nursing facility, if only a one room apartment is available and they really want a one bedroom, it's not forever. You're signing a lease for a year. So it can be a stepping stone to get you there to get out of the nursing home, to begin to establish yourself in the community, and then look at what you really want and spend the next year trying to get there. 10 Finally, I think the other truly important issue is transportation. We do tend to think about, as IL folks, the importance of transportation for people with disabilities getting around in their communities, but it's also important for people to get to them. As in the example I used earlier, public transportation was important for the gentleman's girlfriend to get to him. In many of the large cities, people who do personal care assistance work may rely on public transportation. So if the public transportation ends at six o'clock, the limitations that that imposes in terms of being able to get a P. C. A. to come after 6 can be problematic. So it's important to think through all of those pieces, hopes, dreams, what you really want out of life and things that you'll need further on down the line as you begin to settle in and establish a life. Where are you going to go next? Jay, do you have anything you want to add? >> JAY: Not at this time, Paul, I think. >> PAUL: Tim, do we want to break for questions and answers? >> TIM: Yeah, why don't we, Paul. Matt, would you mind helping us with that. >> OPERATOR: Sure, should anyone have a question or comment at this time please press 0 and 1. Our first one come from Christopher Walsh. >> CALLER: Hello? Hi, here is my question: Actually I was working with a gentleman earlier today and I'm trying on get him set up with Section 8 housing and we're trying all the housing authorities in the immediate area. And my question is, if we actually do get lucky and get 11 him set up with a housing authority with Section 8, he wanted to know how would he go about moving since he -- he's legally blind and he's pretty sure he's not going to be able to do it himself? Like how would he go finding assistance moving from one area to another? >> PAUL: We're going to talk a lot on the call about networking and developing community connections. Unfortunately, there usually isn't a one source place that you can go. Sometimes there are in some circumstances I know here in Connecticut if there are no other resources, sometimes the Department of Social Services may provide some minimal assistance in moving, but it's also important to look at any other connections that the individual may have, such as faith community or friends, family, being able to move things in small loads. I wish I could tell you to call 1-800 mover, and they come and help him, but the reality is it's a tremendous amount of coordination and thought and I've got a section on sort of pulling things together and resources. So maybe we can offer some ideas a little bit later on in the call. Does that kind of answer your question? >> CALLER: Yes. Into the thank you. Should anyone else have a question or comment, please press 0, 1. Our next one comes from Gordon black. >> CALLER: Okay, Hi. That is set up with Gordon. My name is Howard. And it's in response to the gentleman's question. I came across one or two consumers in the past that one person was able to get some moving assistance through a senior center and I've heard of other people getting assistance sometimes through their local church, things like that. 12 So that's always a possibility, too, and I know you said you're going to maybe discuss some other things later, but I just wanted to kind of throw that in. >> PAUL: Thanks, that actually brings up a real important point. The people on the call may have ideas or suggestions or input that can help. So if we don't mention something, feel free to bring those into the call. But you're right, it's networking. It's figuring it out. We've rented U-Hauls and tied stuff to the top of our cars, we've gotten friends and neighbors to chip in. In one situation, we had a group of church that is had a program called covenant to care that coordinated a number of church members from different faith communities coming together on a Saturday and picking stuff up and bringing it to the apartment and helping set it up. And it's also more than just setting it up. It's making a home. >> CALLER: Yeah, can you hear me right now or do I have to push 0, 1 again? >> PAUL: No, I can hear you. >> CALLER: Yeah, the only thing with like at our center, I don't know how other agencies are working, but we're not allowed to really, you know, driver with the consumer or really like do a hands on thing like that, like use our car to help them move. We have to help them -- we have to make referrals out, in other words. >> PAUL: Uh-huh, and I'll talk a little bit later in the call about developing funding opportunities. Sometimes you do end up paying for that. We found that sometimes just offering to pay for gas is the thing 13 that will make the difference. >> CALLER: Right. Exactly. >> JAY: Paul, I have something to add to this if that's okay? >> PAUL: Absolutely. >> JAY: This is Jay, and the other thing to think about in relation to finding someone -- someone to help them move -- has to do a lot with what Paul is going to mention during this call that where we really need to plan with an individual every little detail and if we're planning every little detail, one of the details would be who does the person know? Who are their friends? Who is their family? Because if we know some of those things with the person, they may think of somebody who, for example, has a truck. Or if a family member or a friend that they know may have a friend who owns a truck or something like that. So what I don't want to do is forget that sometimes people have their own networks that they may not be thinking of or may not be thinking of asking. And just bringing those kinds of things up might be real helpful. >> PAUL: And that's a really important point, Jay. I find very often we start working with somebody, and they may say, well, I have no one, and as you begin talking, you find out that they've made friends with the barber down the street. And, you know, they've made friends with this particular aide of a nursing facility who said, gee, if there is anything I can do to help. Letting friends and family know. When we get to talking about finding housing, one of the things that I say is tell everyone you know and you're right, it's the very beginning of the process. It's important to figure out all the elements from getting furnishings to moving 14 those furnishings, to setting up a home and to following up afterwards and figuring out who can be brought into that process and beginning to did people to join you to help in that process.pair. >> CALLER: Go ahead, just talk. Hello, I have a question. >> PAUL: Yes. >> CALLER: My name is Raleigh and I have a client right now who has found Section 8 housing and we applied for move-in costs, however, it's taking so long to process that the land lady doesn't want to continue holding the apartment for her. So she's going to try to rent it and not holding because it's taking too long for the moving costs to come through from D. M. H. So I was wondering if you had any answers or solutions to this kind of problem? >> PAUL: Well, I find that money helps a lot and it's always something that's in short supply, but it's important to identify resources and I'll talk a little bit about developing those further on in the call. But we have done things, for example, if the person can get leased up with Section 8, pay their portion of the rent so that -- because it's a business deal for the landlord. They want the money coming in, and if we can pay their portion, it's often fairly small. So that's one way. We've also gotten accommodations under some of the rental assistance programs where they are completely knowledgeable, that the person is leasing up but not moving in yet. And of course the rental subsidy program is actually the problem by not coming through with the moving costs that may help motivate them to get that money on to the table. >> CALLER: Right. It's just a little glitch in the whole 15 process and there is around a three week wait. So it's just hard to get the landlord to hang on for those three weeks. I thank you for your suggestion. >> PAUL: As I said, if the person has leased up or can lease up and there is some funding source or they have the resources to pay that rent, they may be able to satisfy the landlord's needs even though -- >> CALLER: Yeah, in my -- in this particular case, it's homeless Section 8. So she's literally living in garages and parks. So there is nothing available. >> PAUL: Well, maybe time to put on the advocacy hat and push the issue a little bit. >> CALLER: Okay. >> PAUL: Are there other questions? >> OPERATOR: There are currently no other questions in queue. >> PAUL: I think the next thing we're going to get into the ground work in getting ready. And that is figuring out what you can afford. In the housing manual on Page 28 there is a budgeting worksheet which takes you through identifying all of the sources of income that an individual may have and things that they may be able to tap into, as well as trying to figure out what they can afford in terms of the costs of living. It's important to make sure that those costs fall within their budget so they are able to succeed -- to be a success. In terms of paying for housing, the rental subsidies, such as Section 8 are the most frequent, but as we mentioned on the call on Monday, there were on also others like housing that's developed with low income housing 16 tax credits may have a number of affordable units. They have sort of aside benefit. We have one developed here in Connecticut where a third of the units are subsidized or have a reduced rent and the remainder are at market rent but we've been able to get people into the market rent units through using a rental subsidy. In terms 6 trying on get Section 8 or rental subsidies, it's important to know what the housing authority has and what their preferences are. Preferences are things that the ee identified in the consolidated plan or groups or individuals that they will give priority to. Homeless, people with disabilities, age are the most common, but it can also be families. In Connecticut we have a program called the family reunification program and we've actually helped a couple of consumers who have children get into housing where this particular subsidy is geared towards bringing families back together. There can also be priorities for people paying more than 50 percent of their income for rent or people who are involuntarily displaced from their living situation. Another program to look for -- and to begin talking about if you're not already familiar is bridge funding or bridging subsidies. These are programs that may exist either funded through the state or through other entities to help get people into housing. And basically what they do is they take the place of a subsidy such as Section 8, until the person can get on one of those programs. Generally, the requirement is that the person must have already applied for it and must be on a waiting list, but it can help get them off the waiting list and into housing and then provide that subsidy until they are able to actually access a Section 8. 17 Other options may be housing developed under Habitat for Humanities. Sometimes we work a great deal with folks coming out of nursing homes and creative housing options may be the only strategy. People may really want to live on their own and to have their own place, but sometimes home sharing is an option. That may be somebody with an existing home who has some space that's willing to share it or we've also helped two individuals rent an apartment together, get ag two bedroom unit so they can share the costs and also share some of their supports. And that takes a great deal of work in terms of helping to find the right person to share their home with and figure out all the logistics of it, including the house rules. But it can work for some people. Once you've applied for Section 8 or rental subsidy, you have to deal with the inevitable waiting list. That can be daunting for some folks, but it's important to work the list. A couple of key things are we always tell people when you submit your application, it's very important to call a couple of days later to make sure it was received and to make sure it was complete, if there is any missing information. In the look let that you received, Section 8 made simples, you'll also find examples of accommodations that can be made on the waiting list. These might include allowing a secondary person, could be the advocate of the Center for Independent Living to be listed on the application and requesting that the housing authority send copies of correspondence to both the applicant and that secondary contact person. Parity can be allowing a previously incomplete application to be on the list once it's completed. So if someone sends in an application and there was a piece of information 18 missing, it could be an accommodation to request that once that information is completed that the person then be added to the waiting list. And allowing application that is were discarded during an update process to be reinstated. And I'll explain that a little bit. What typically happens with waiting lists is, as you all know, is that at times people will find housing and so they are no longer looking. So their name may still be sitting on the list. So the housing authority will purge the list periodically. They'll send something out saying you need to respond within so many days or your name will be removed from the list. We actually used this accommodation with one individual who had applied for Section 8 and went into a nursing home. And when she was settled in the nursing home, she received the information that had been sent to her home, but the time frame had passed. The advocate from the Center for Independent Living spoke with the housing authority and requested this accommodation based on the person's disability and because they were in a nursing home, they were not able to respond in a timely fashion and the person was actually reinstate and put back on the list in the original position they had been in. So even if some of those time lines are missed, I wouldn't give up. It's important to follow up on those things and talk with people. In terms of using subsidies, some of the things we've learned, working with folks in nursing homes, very often their income in the nursing home is just $30, because the Social Security -- the SSI is reduced once the person has been in the facility a couple of months. And we heard of one lady actually up in Boston who was very successful 19 in negotiate willing with her housing authority. She wanted to keep her apartment because she had very intense plans of returning to it; but now that her income was $30, her rent should be 30 percent of $30 and she made the argument and her rent was reduced to about ten dollars a month and she was able to keep the apartment for the amount of time that she was in the nursing facility. It's also possible to request higher rent standards for accommodations. Generally, that can go up to 120 percent and with approval from HUD, they can go higher than that. We've actually made the case that limiting housing options are in and of itself an accommodation. So for example, somebody who may only need a first floor apartment, maybe they use a Walker or cane to get around, that even though they don't need any special accommodations, they don't need wide doorways or a roll-in shower, just a limited number of first floor walk in apartments or a few steps is an accommodation and we've gotten higher payment standard on those. Also under the Section 8 program, renting to families is generally excused, but for a person with a disability, this can be an accommodation. There is a provision and you'll find information on that in the Section 8 made simple manual for requesting an accommodation around that so that people can rent from families. Sometimes families have been able to buy a home and modify it to meet someone's needs, but they do need to pay the mortgage. So they need a mechanism and renting it to the family member is actually an option. Also in the budgeting process it's important to take a look at things that may help. HUD has an earned income disregard and medical expenses -- anticipated medical expenses that in combination with 20 the disability allowance can exceed 3 percent of the income can be deducted from the rent. Finally, when you are working with Section 8 or other subsidy programs, it's important to recognize that there are a number of factors that are going to be considered in the rent. Jay talked about on Wednesday the fair market rental value, which is sort of the standard for the area at 90 to 100 percent, but in addition to that, the housing authority has to calculate what they call rent reasonableness, determining whether or not the rent, even if it falls within the fair market rent, is reasonable for the area and the condition of the property. And also to make sure that it falls within the allowable percentages of the person's income. Tim, do we want to break for questions or Jay do you have anything to add? >> JAY: While people are coming into the queue to ask questions, just to make -- I can't over emphasize all of what Paul has said or very important things for us think about. One of the ways to answer some of these questions is to ask them. And part of it is that we just have to have really good questions to ask so that we can find who might have the answers to them. And the best way to do that is to establish some sort of group of folks who are willing to plan with the person and plan with the person and with you around assisting the person to rent a place or buy a place or whatever it might be. And so part of that as I said before, is just asking the person and working with the person about who is in their life, bringing them together, and seeing who can help with what and who knows what resources within your individual 21 community. This particular kind of planning has ben used very sum fully, especially with assisting people to buy homes and in the guide that is posted up on the website that you all have access to, it's called the home of your own guide, and if you look at chapter 2, it outlines that whole process of bringing people together and then asking -- finding out what the questions are and asking some questions to find out what the questions are. And thin looking at how do we find the solutions to these issues.so part of it is just really following that process because some of this information can be daunting and it's going to change for every individual community. >> TIM: Thank you, and if anyone does have a question or comment, please press 0 and then 1. >> OPERATOR: There have not, Paul, thanks. We do have a question coming from either Howard or Gordon. >> CALLER: It's Howard. Gordon is not in attendance. Getting back to what Rolly mentioned, if this is okay to jump around -- you know the problem I've had with people getting their Section 8 is the process of when, you know, they find a place and then it gets -- it's a very -- they seem to drag their feet with the inspection, for instance. I have one consumer that found a place and it was all set and the inspector came out and it didn't pass. It was just like a small thing, something with the boiler that had to be fixed or something. So the landlord took care of that. Rescheduled an appointment for the following week. It was on a Tuesday and the inspector didn't come out, didn't call, anything. So I intervened and talked to the landlord and the landlord was real upset and 22 about to just drop the whole thing. And you know this has happened a couple of times. Either if it's not tin specs, then it's just the process because after the inspection the housing authority has to contact the landlord to negotiate the lease. So what I'm getting at here is the time involved. I know, you know, there are big organization and they probably have a lot of cases, but I'm just wondering if there is an approach or a way to handle this with them because it seems like it's an inside thing with the housing authority and they sort of seem to drag their feet at times with getting something done in a too manically manner. Is there any way to streamline the process. >> PAUL: I think in the process there are ways of advocating, calling, following up, faxing may be helpful. One of the things we've learned is to take every time we run into a problem and figure out how can we deal with this in the future, and then begin to make friends with the folks at the housing authority. Even if you get to know just one person and begin to hold those problems out there, and ask them to help figure out solutions. >> CALLER: I understand what you're getting at and I've done those things. I think the bottom line is it comes to, well, I'll leave messages or it takes them awhile to get back and I'm assuming it has to do with the -- you know that they are handling a lot of cases and there are probably less workers than there are cases if I'm guessing right. And I'm calling from Los Angeles, so maybe these problems don't happen as much in smaller areas, but in L.A., it's a really major concern because my co-worker is kind of agreeing with me. She's had those problems, too, with 23 the housing authority. One thing I did do just to share with whoever else is listening, is when that inspector didn't show up or come out or anything, luckily, I have the number to one of the housing authorities ombudsman there and she like right away -- it was amazing to me -- in about two or three hours she got an inspector out there. It can work if you have someone on your side and willing to work with you. You know, I don't know if the housing authorities in other states have that. I assume they would, some type of ombudsman who would assist with any problems that are occurring. >> CALLER: The ombudsman is not something that we're familiar with, although they may exist in other parts of the country and it's certainly worth asking, you know, if there are those types of advocates who can intervene. It's also important to know -- >>She helped me out with that and I was lucky that day because there are other days I leave messages and I don't hear back from her for a week sometimes and it's not necessarily that the person -- I have a good relationship going with her. It's just that they are very -- they've got a lot of cases and people calling them. >> PAUL: And I can tell you that that happens in small and rural areas as well as large METRO poll tan areas. Find out what policies and constraints for the housing authority operates under? For example, here in Connecticut we know that once the ten en is I request is received, it may take the housing authority awhile to process it and send the voucher out that's actually going to do tin specs. 24 The entity that's going to do the inspection then has ten days to do that. Making sure they stay within those time lines and it's helpful to both the consumer and the landlord. If you can sort of lay that out ahead of time so they know what's coming. And figure out strategies and then if you make those partners in a few isolated cases I've actually had someone give me their cell phone number. Saying, look, if it's not happening, give me a call. If you can't reach me at the office call my cell phone. But it takes a long time to build those up. So you have to start making those connections and taking it from the per perspective representative of we have a problem, can you help us figure this out. I find that people want to help. They just need to be asked. >> CALLER: Right. >> PAUL: You have to sort of do what you need to do with the people you're working with and develop proactive strategies for how you're going to avoid these problems in the future. >> CALLER: Yeah, I understand what you're saying. I usually like in this instance with the inspector that didn't show up the second time. I started by explaining to the landlord at the very beginning that we're dealing with a bureaucracy that's got a lot of cases and it could take a little more time than what they'll tell him. He understood that and I think that helped a little bit but it still gets annoying to the landlord when like you said it's a business deal and they are not going to sit around and wait. I mean, they might wait an extra day or two, but they are not invested like we are as case workers with the consumer. So there is -- >> PAUL: We've also gotten the inspection forms and shared them 25 with landlords so they know exactly what the housing authority is going to be looking at if they haven't dealt with this process before. >> CALLER: Good idea. I didn't know you could do that. >> PAUL: And we've gotten a few of our folks trained so that they are not inspectors, and they can't pass an apartment, but they can go out and kind of troubleshoot so that before the inspector gets there, if there is a clear or glaring problem, they've pointed it out and gotten it fixed. >> CALLER: Do you have access to getting or letting us know how to get the inspection forms? Are they available online? >> PAUL: Actually I believe I have them. I can scan them and send them to Tim and maybe Tim can send them on? >> TIM: I'd be happy to. >> JAY: They are on the HUD website. You can certainly look at the inspection -- the full process. >> PAUL: I would be very surprised if they weren't. >> CALLER: Okay. >> JAY: The standards have not changed in about 20 years or 30 years. They are the same standards. They are very minimal. You know, it's two areas of egress, a stove, you know, I mean -- they are not -- if you can't pass the Section 8 HUD inspection, then you really don't want to live there. >> CALLER: Okay. I got you. >> PAUL: So again, you know, you certainly have to deal with the current problem, but anything you can do proactively to avoid those 26 problems in the future and get the housing authority to be your partner in that. You know, ask if you can meet the inspector there and go through the apartment, not only to act as an advocate, but to learn what their process is. >> CALLER: Okay, that's a good point. >> PAUL: Do we have any other questions? >> OPERATOR: Our next one will come from Margo Waters. >> CALLER: Okay, I wanted to ask a question about home ownership and if, say, sometimes you have someone who might qualify and have -- be working. And then their disability proceed rests on them and they stop working. Do the mortgage adjust accordingly or will they need to find other resources to help continue to pay their mortgage? >> PAUL: They are using a Section 8 voucher for home ownership? >> CALLER: Uh-huh. >> PAUL: Jay may have something to add to this, but I believe it should be the same as if you were renting. If your income changes, then you need to report that and get the amounts recalculated. >> CALLER: So it can happen and can be recalculated. >>Correct. >> PAUL: And generally the principle is if your income goes down, it should be adjusted for the first of the next month. If it -- >> JAY: And the other thing is if you're not work pg, of course, then you may be eligible for additional subsidies like if you are working you might not be receiving SSI or SSDI. So, you know, at this same point your income may go down from not working, but then you would have to report 27 that as income also. Those public benefits. >> CALLER: Okay, thank you. >> OPERATOR: There are apparently no other questions in queue. >> JAY: One comment on any of the home ownership process, again, it's really not a plug, although I think that the guide -- the home of your own good really outlines the whole home ownership process. It also goes through -- it goes through budgets and it goes through the different funding sources and so I would encourage you just to even look through that and see if it addresses some of your questions. It won't go through the housing choice vouchers because they didn't exist the time the guide was written, but we'll at least talk you through some of the process of purchasing a home. >> PAUL: Excellent. Moving on to finding and securing housing, as I said earlier in the call, my first advice is to tell everyone you know and I do mean everyone. And to be really clear about what you're looking for, hopefully by this point you or the consumer have fought through all of those issues around transportation and accessibility and what you're going to need in the community and what your hopes and dreams are and start spreading the word. Very often we rely on newspapers and so on and that's a good source of rental property, but it's not the only one and very often it's word of mouth that ultimately end up getting someone housing. So it's important to cope that out there. One of the creative approaches that one of our centers here in Connecticut used because they were seeing an influx of folks they were looking for working looking for housing. They actually placed an ad in the 28 local newspaper and it just said landlords wanted and they just added a few lines to that, but the idea was to turn the boat around instead of everyone looking for housing and trying to find housing and trying to talk to landlords, get landlords calling you saying I've got property to rent. We've also done the same thing with fliers with tear-offs and putting them up in super markets and those sorts of things. If your state has a housing registry, that can also be another tremendous resource if it's working well. We've just developed one in Connecticut with social serve and it's been up and operating for just a couple of months. What the date did was to begin populating the registry with all of the governmentally assisted housing that currently exist in Connecticut. And based on our work over a number of years we were asked to comment and to be part of an advisory group on the development of the registry. And two important points that we held out -- one was to make sure it was accessible and had really good information about accommodate gs and people's rights and responsibilities and information not only for renters, but also for landlords. And the other was to promote it in such a way that it would be a real tool for landlords. It's going to work best if landlords believe that by listing their property, they are going to get their property rented because as we've said before, it's a business. As long as the property sits empty, they are not making any money. They want to get it rented. This is a real tool and it really works. That's going to help. If you want the take a look at the con condition registry it's online at www.cthousingsearch.org. We've also had very good luck working with realtors. Two levels -- 29 one was working just with local realtors, particularly in smaller communities, where they may know everyone and be able to get to properties, and the other is we have some meetings with the state association who was very open to working with us and ms posting information about accommodations and making homes accessible and so on. It's also important to network and develop those relationships. We often think of it as a disability issue, but there are lots of others that have housing needs. We say sometimes often it's not so much about disability as it is about poverty and finding other groups such as homeless coalitions, neighborhood organization -- we have a group here in Connecticut called partnership for strong communities. It's trying to build stronger communities. Anyone who has a common interest in housing can potentially be a partner and one of the strategies I like to use is the miracle on 34th Street strategy. That is to share what you need you know. Very often people feel if they get a source it's important to keep that to themselves so other people won't tap into it. The reality is if you start sharing your resources, it's not that you go a way, you'll get more because people will start calling you with they are resources. Rarely it happens you get a call from a landlord and there may not be anyone you know of who wants to rent it right now. But helping them and putting out the word will encourage them to come back to you. One of our staff and one of our centers here in Connecticut -- the center actually had a HOPWA program, housing options for persons with AIDS and it provided a bridge rental subsidy for six to 18 months while people got into more permanent housing. He later shipped it over to another 30 position within the center, but he became a real resource to staff just because during the work under the HOPWA program, he had developed quite a number of connections with landlords and landlords sometimes can be a problem, but sometimes they can be your best friend. Knowing landlords in the community gives you the opportunity not only to tap into rental properties they have, but they know each other. So being able to put out the word through landlords and asking them to share with other landlords that you're looking for something can help. Again, partnering with any interested groups, neighborhood associations, community development organizations, and I would just encourage people to just get involved -- get involved in some of those issues and programs that we talked about on Wednesday if and just grow your network because that's where you'll find real resources. Once you've found housing, some of the things to consider is be prepared to bargain. If you're using a rental subsidy, the public housing authority will work with the landlord to determine the final rent, but in other situations you may find yourself having discussions with the landlord, trying to negotiate a rent that the person can afford. Things that may be helpful is knowing how long the unit has been vacant. If it's been vacant for awhile, that could be a bar gaining chip. They may be willing to come down on the rent to get it rented. On the other hand, if it's just recently been listed, it may be a cue to you that you may need to move fairly quickly. Besides getting the rent lowered, one of the strategies we've used, because people with disabilities can get an accommodation of a higher rent, 31 sometimes making sure the landlord knows if they make the modifications to the apartment that the person needs, that they can get a higher rent and that you'll work with them to negotiate that with the housing authority. We've had a couple have landlords that we've worked with a couple of times that have taken apartments where the utilities were not included and because the rent was lower than the payment standard, they were willing to fold the utilities into the apartment so it didn't become a burden for the consumer worked out to be a very good deal for both parties. We're running into problems here in Connecticut where we're seeing some housing developed, whether affordable or not, where the landlord is requiring three times the income -- three times the rent as income in order to be considered for tenancy. And we've raised that as a potential issue of discrimination, but in talking with landlords, we've also gotten them to agree in some cases that if they are requiring three times the income in order to be able to rent the apartment, that if the person has a rental subsidy, that they should only be considering three times the amount of rent that the individual themself is going to have to pay or to consider the rental subsidy as income. We've also put together sort after talking point sheet on renting to people with disabilities. They tend to be good tenants. Rents are so hard to find that they become really invested in staying. If there is a subsidy involved, about 70 percent of the rent is guaranteed. It's gag to be coming in every month. Even if the income is very low, only Social Security or SSI, it's stable. You don't have to worry about them losing a job. 32 There are some other things you may want to share. I would suggest use these with caution. They can be benefits as well as problems. In very residential communities where everyone goes off to work during the day, having somebody that isn't going off to work may be a benefit. Having people around so the whole neighborhood doesn't look deserted during the day. Although this may be considered a benefit, you have to be careful in using it because landlords may also think -- they'll also have the heat of the air conditioning up all day or foster an image that people with disabilities can't work. It's important to think about those things that are positives for landlords. Why is it good business for them to rent to someone with a disability, whether or not they need an accommodation? There are things that you should say and things that you shouldn't say. When you're looking for units or when the consumer is looking for units, they do not need to say they are a person with a disability or living in an institution or facility you. They do not need to disclose they have rental subsidy. Those are discussions that can come later in the conversation once you've actually met with the landlord and seen the property and begun looking at I. There is no need to share that information up front. And it can lead to somewhat devious types of discrimination. On the other hand, there are problems that it may be best to reveal. These may be things such as credit, or criminal history, again, you don't need to reveal those up front, but once you've met with the landlord and there is some interest in renting and they say, okay, we're going to run a credit background check, that's the time to have that conversation with the 33 landlord. Very often we run into folks who encounter a disability and at the time they run into huge financial problems. They may have used credit cards up to their limit. They may have defaulted payments on some things, so it may be important to share that information. Say, look, I'm a good person. I pay my bills on time, but I had a problem. And when you run that credit history you'll find that problem and here is what it is, here is how it happened and here is what I'm doing about it. We also encourage people very early in the process to get a copy of their credit report. We've seen a couple of situations where something that they were very afraid of didn't show up. And often things that they didn't know about will show up or there may be mistakes in their credit report. So it's important the get those early on. Again, things like criminal history, it may be important to have those discussions with the landlord. It's also important to note that credit problems are not necessarily going to rule you out of Section 8. It's going to be a barrier when you get to meeting with the landlord, but it's not necessarily going to prohibit you from getting Section 8 unless you owe money to a utility company or a housing authority. Those are two problems that you'll need to figure out. Again, it's a matter of network pg, getting to know people, building friendships and coalitions. We've had some success with our local utility company in their special accommodations unit. It's still a problem if it's turned over for collection, but if it hasn't been turned over for collection, we are usually able to resolve it fairly easily. And of course discrimination is a real issue. I recommend that people become familiar with fair housing law and also the U.S. fair 34 housing law and also fair housing law in their state. There can be a misconception that landlords have a right to refuse to rent to someone with a rental subsidy or section 8 and there are some exclusions. For example, owner occupied properties with less than four units. Other than that, refusal to rent to someone who has rental assistance can actually be considered discrimination on the basis of income. Jay, do you have anything to add? >> JAY: The only thing that I would add is that much of what Paul has talked about is outlined in the paper that you got yesterday and much of what I talked about on Wednesday is also outlined on this paper, the paper called housing finance paper and the title of it is funding sources successfully used by states to support development of affordable, accessible and integrated community housing. The paper -- even though it's not completed yet -- and you received a working copy of it. Outlines many of the things that both of us have talked about over the last two calls. In particular, one of the things that Paul just talked about, the housing registries, we have a whole section on housing registries and then give you some resources to other housing registries around the country and if you look at that guide you'll be able to see where you can find some of that information and see if your state -- I know that many of the people on the call are from states that do have housing registries and you may not know of them. >> PAUL: Tim, do we have any questions? >> TIM: Still don't have any webcast questions. So I'll take this opportunity to remind our webcast participants that they can ask 35 questions by E-mailing webcast@ilru.org. And for our teleconference participants, if you don't mind, open up the phone lines. >> OPERATOR: Our first one will come from Courtney Harris. >> CALLER: My first question is what was the name of that website you said www.housing something. I didn't get it all. >> PAUL: It's the Connecticut housing registry, and it's www.cthousingsearch.org. >> CALLER: And my next question was -- now you said if you're getting financial assistance, that's discrimination. Is it any type of financial assistance towards renting -- or what I mean is if a consumer uses financial assistance maybe for to help pay first month's rent from an organization or something, and the renter said they don't want to take that, is that discrimination or are you just meaning financial assistance from Section 8? >> PAUL: Well, the cases I'm familiar with have come directly from Section 8 where it's been determined by a court that refusal to accept that is discrimination based on source of income. Although if you have attorneys that are friends of yours, you may want to talk to them. I'm sure I often find that because a decision has been made one way in one case, you can make the case that it would likely be decided the same way in another case just because its knee Section 8 it might be the Center for Independent Living or the local church that's paying the security deposit or first month's rent. >> CALLER: Right. >> PAUL: Again, could be construed as discrimination based on 36 source of income. >> CALLER: Okay. That was my question. >> PAUL: Thank you. >> OPERATOR: Our next one will come from Howard I believe. >> CALLER: Yes, Hi. Getting back to the bad credit that you talked about, another thing that you can try and do -- in fact, I have a consumer that's looking at a place right now as we speak and I have met and he has bad credit. So I asked him about his past rental history and he had lived somewhere for 13 years with no problems. So I told him to let the landlord know that if he wants to -- if they would like him to obtain a letter from his past landlord stating that, you know, he's been responsible. So all I'm getting at is sometimes that could help out, too, if someone has lived somewhere for I guess probably over a year to get a letter from that previous landlord. >> PAUL: That's a great idea. Because it both shows that the person has a lot of stability, and the most important thing to the landlord is going to be are you going to pay the rent? Am I going to get my money? So using a previous landlord as a reference is excellent. >> CALLER: I am Edward and I'm in the same room. I'm Edward and I'm in the same room with Howard and Rolly. >> PAUL: Do you have a question for us? >> CALLER: I'm wondering, is there a law somewhere that you cannot discriminate against people with Section 8? Because in California, Los Angeles, there are many people who discriminate against people who have Section 8. They will not rent to Section 8. They come out and they just 37 say we do not rent to Section 8. Is that against some law? >> PAUL: Jay, do you have some insight into that on a national level? >> JAY: And tell me your name -- >> CALLER: Edward Williams. >> JAY: Edward, there is no particular law that calls that discrimination. Landlords have an option whether or not to participate because they have to follow the guidelines of HUD and so forth, and HUD cannot force somebody to participate in the Section 8 program. There is a law -- a fair housing law that says that they can't discriminate against somebody who has a disability in relation to renting, but they don't have to take Section 8 -- a Section 8 voucher or a housing choice voucher. That's really their option. And I think part of what we really encourage -- and I know -- Paul, I'm not sure if you're familiar with the group that was in Connecticut of landlords where they met with landlords and they spent time talking to landlords in general about some of the issues that people with disabilities might have in relation to renting and some of the concerns landlords had and it really helped to kind of bridge some of those gaps and I guess one of the things that we would recommend is to try to figure out if there is some sort of landlord association in your local communities and see about meeting with them in general about some of these issues. >> PAUL: And actually that's a great idea. I am familiar with the project that was done here in Connecticut. One of the sources that they tapped into is that housing authorities here -- and I would imagine in 38 other places -- have periodic meetings to share information about Section 8 and rental subsidy programs and encourage landlords to at least come and find out more about it. And what they did was partner with the housing authorities on those meetings so they had an opportunity to speak directly to landlords about the benefits of renting to people with disabilities. And to dispel some of the myths around Section 8. The cases I cited were here in Connecticut and they were cases brought to court and so it's not a law, it's a court decisioning where the court decided the landlord was discriminating based on source of income. But you may want to do some further investigation, talk with legal services in your state or your state fair housing or do some research on the web as to what would apply in your particular state. >> CALLER: Do you know offhand if a landlord -- let's say a landlord has ten units. And he has one unit for Section 8 and then he decides somewhere along the line that he doesn't want to take anymore Section 8. Is he able to do that? I meanwhile he still has that other Section 8 tenant in his building? Or is he obligated when a unit opens up to have it open as Section 8 also? >> PAUL: Jay, any thoughts? >> JAY: I think -- I don't think that there is any legal -- that they legally do not have to rent for example if a landlord had -- or an owner had a billing with 200 units, they wouldn't have to take every unit to be where they would have to take Section 8. So I know that. So I don't think it's considered discrimination or that they would have to rent to someone else who has Section 8. They could say I'll do this for ten 39 apartments or ten units. >> CALLER: Right. >> JAY: You know, again, we're not experts in all of the legal intricacies of this, so you might want to check with somebody else who has some legal housing knowledge on that or fair housing who is an attorney or with protection and advocacy agency just to make sure that that's true, but I believe that would be true. >> CALLER: And my experience is it's important to know this stuff and to be able to use it effectively to help people get housing, but the most effective tools that I've found have been sort of working proactively, figuring out and meeting with landlords and talking about why it's good business. (Paul) you know, you've got 70 percent of the rent guaranteed. You've got somebody with a stable income. You know, besides just doing the right thing, it can be good business for a landlord to accept a subsidy or to rent to people with disabilities. >> JAY: And also to dispel any sort of myths or fears they may have because they may believe that all people with disabilities are this way or that way and just to kind of dispel some of those myths and so you really just need to know what they might be afraid of. Or they wouldn't want to rent. >> PAUL: By talking to people you can sort of debunk those midsts, and you have landlords that are renting and pleased with the rental range., ask them to join you and partner with you in speaking with these groups. >> OPERATOR: Our next question will come from Christopher Walsh. 40 >> CALLER: I have a two part question: I know we've been talking about barriers to Section 8 and we mentioned credit history and we've also mentioned criminal records and the first part of my question is, is there a difference between a felony and a misdemeanor as far as the barrier to Section 8? And also is having a criminal record -- is that a deal breaker or is there a way to get over it? >> PAUL: I'm going to talk from our experience here in Connecticut because that is ee I'm most familiar with and then I'll let Jay chime in, but here in Connecticut basically there is a three year look-back window and they also -- there are certain crimes that are absolutely rule-outs, conviction for meth amphetamines, possession with intent to sell and registered sex offender. >> CALLER: So those are deal breakers. >> PAUL: The other important thing to know is that other things are not necessarily deal breakers and the person can get a voucher, but then you need to think about, okay, the housing authority doing their background check is I'm going to look back three years. The landlord may look back a lot farther. And if they are so predisposed, they may try to use a misdemeanor as a reason not to rent. >> CALLER: They can legally do that, right? They can refuse to rent because of a misdemeanor? >> PAUL: You need to talk to legal folks in your state and find out what the laws are there because I'm assuming they are different in different states. >> JAY: What we will say is that the local public housing agency 41 that is the recipient from HUD of the voucher has a lot of flexibility in how they set their application and how they set their standards. And so even -- there is not a lot of federal regulation that says this is how you have to do it. There is some, but it's very general. And so what I would tell you about some of this is even though HUD says that if somebody has certain criminal history, you can't rent, the public housing agency can add some additional criteria and they are within their purview to do that. So depending on which public housing agency you're looking at, you really need to understand their rules and whether after three years they'll look back on it or if a misdemeanor would be not an issue for them, you know, those kinds of questions really you do have to did them. >> CALLER: So it varies from a public housing agency to agency. >> JAY: It really does and a lot of this does. We talked on Wednesday at length about local preferences. That is established by each public housing agency. And so there may be a preference in a community that you're in and a mile down the road starts the new public housing agency's area, and that preference won't exist. >> TIM: I hate to stifle good conversation. I want to point out the time. I want to make sure you have time to get through the rest of the presentation. If we can proceed we'll handle the rest of the questions at the end of the call. >> PAUL: Let me move through accessibility and funding. Accommodations as I mentioned earlier in the call, one can be allowing someone to rent a unit while modifications are being made. Considerations would be can the person live in the unit while the unit is being modified? 42 We also take a look at are there temporary solution that is can get the person into housing. For example, we've done portable ramps while we're waiting funding to come through for building them a permanent ramp. And sometimes that takes a little coordination to swap one ramp out and get a ramp built in a timely manner so the person doesn't lose use of the property. In terms of funding because that's often what it comes down to, whether it's those moving expenses we talked about earlier or making modifications to a unit, places to look -- your voc rehab agency, the agency for the blind if your state has a separate agency, if your state has Medicaid waivers, some of the waivers may have -- it's rare -- but some of them may have barrier removal dollars that can be used. We've also had a fair amount of success with disability specific organizations for example here in Connecticut the multiple sclerosis society has some funding that can be used for home modifications. We have a very strong spinal cord injury association and they've been helpful, the M.D. words association has some smaller amounts of funds. We've also had some assistance from the American kidney foundation and very often you're going to find that when it comes to modifications, there is no one stop shop where you go here and you get all the money you need to do the modifications. If you do, that's a beautiful thing. We often find we have to partner with a number of different organizations and if we can get a few dollars on the table and see who can match them and then see who can help close the gap. Other place it's to look to might be faith communities. Often ask people if they have any 43 police or firefighters in the family, their benevolent associations may be helpful. Local trusts and foundations, banks under their community reinvestment programs, community development block grants, one much our centers for independent living here in Connecticut receives an allocation of block grant funds to do modifications. They call it their ramp fund and it's paid for quite a number e of ramps each year. We also have a number of funds in different centers here that were established either in memory of a person or in recognition of something. And we've encouraged people to make donations to them. We have what we call the common sense fund that was established with original donations when a state employee who was very supportive of our work left for another state. She asked that funds be donated to establish this fund and funds have been left in memorial for people that have passed on in recognition of accomplishments and so on. We have one center that helped an individual with a spinal cord injury to live successfully in the community and the family was very grateful and has designated the proceeds from -- or the interest from an account to go to the center and those funds can be used and they can be used very creatively. Again, to pay for that gas money to get the move done or to be part of the package for funding accessibility modifications. The other resource we haven't talked about much and we're almost out of time so I'll mention it briefly is the U.S. Department of Agriculture culture. They also have home programs that can help with affordability. There are some developments and they can also do loans to help modify a home. Jay, anything to add? >> JAY: The only thing that I would add is, again, the paper 44 that I mentioned before, the housing finance draft paper had a whole section on home modifications and renovation and it highlights a program that is in Nebraska that uses about 12 different sources of funding for accessibility and modifications and home modifications and I would encourage you to look through that and to learn about that Nebraska program. Because it's really something that we would love to have in every state. >> PAUL: Tim, it looks like we have two minutes and I'll turn it back to you for any final questions or comments. >> TIM: Thank you, Paul. Matt, if you wouldn't mind opening up the queue, we do not have any webcast questions at this time. So I'll move forwards to questions. >> OPERATOR: At this time if you have questions press 0 and 1. Our first one will come from Sandra. >> CALLER: Okay, actually I'm from the west Michigan area and you've done a lot of talking about Section 8 and the housing vouchers and we wish we had the problem of landlords not taking the vouchers. We have a huge problem of not having enough vouchers. We have a long waiting list which has been closed for a long, long time. So what I deal with are individuals with disabilities who are on the SSI income, no vouchers, with housing costs that are too high for SSI income level and I was curious to hear how many others are experiencing that type of issue and how people are dealing with it? Thank you. >> PAUL: I'll start off with it's a huge problem nationally. Again, partnering with housing authorities, we've offered to help support 45 their efforts to get more vouchers and we've also pushed them to apply for vouchers whenever the offerings come out. We've talked a lot about the Section 8 vouchers, but there are other types of subsidy that you may be able to tap into. We're very fortunate here in Connecticut to be one of the only four states that actually has a state funded housing program. So we do have that resource; but again, it's that proactiveness of looking at not only the problems that you're facing right now, but how are you going to solve these in the future? Perhaps encouraging the state to establish its own housing program or to look at private ventures that may help such as utilization of the low income housing tax credits to develop housing that can have subsidized units. >> CALLER: Right. We're pushing very hard for the housing trust fund right now. >> JAY: That will be a really important asset. The other thing that I can recommend is that you look at your community's HOME funds because tenant-based rental assistance is so under used in the country and in every state. So that could be an option and some states have actually taken it on and put out millions of dollars of their HOME money, the tenant-based rental assistance. Texas is one of those states and you can look at what they did in relation to that. >> CALLER: Okay. Yeah, we have a huge problem of being on lake Michigan where we have some artificially inflated AMI because of the houses right on Lake Michigan. So we have a whole pen of tenant-based rental vouchers in our area because of that. It's a real bad situation over here 46 because of that. Thank you. >> JAY: You're welcome. >> OPERATOR: Our next question will come from Gayle. >> CALLER: Yes, my question is you mentioned CDBG funding and the Department of Agriculture cull funding. >> PAUL: Yes. >> CALLER: Is that only limited to owner occupied housing? >> PAUL: No, actually here in Connecticut the U.S. DA has developed some apartment complexes, very small complexes in some of the more rural communities. And I believe that there may be some options to use it on rental properties. I believe the landlords would have to agree, but contact the U.S. DA. We found them very easy to work with. >> CALLER: Okay. >> PAUL: And in terms of the block grants, check with your local town's municipality to see who is receiving them and how they can be used. Here we find them used most often for exterior modifications such as ramps. >> CALLER: In Arizona, our U.S. DA is primarily in the rural part of the state. That's great. We'll contact them. Thank you. >> PAUL: You're welcome. >> OPERATOR: Our next question comes from Courtney Harris. >> CALLER: You answered our question. Thank you. >> OPERATOR: Our next one will come from Margo. >> CALLER: No, I was -- >> PAUL: Hello? >> CALLER: Accessible, affordable housing and here in Georgia we 47 are experiencing the same thing and being an IL coordinator I feel like I'm not doing a good job when I can't refer people to housing. I think we need more housing, accessible housing and being an advocate and a member of ADAPT, I vow to advocate for that change and try to help advocate for more affordable, accessible housing. >> PAUL: That's great and that sort of brings us full circle back to where we began on Wednesday about resources, all the things that are included in the paper and what Jay talked about that can be used to help develop that housing and stimulate the growth of it. And again the concept of blended funding because it's virtually impossible for a developer to do that with just one source but use ag variety of sources of funding, there can be some very creative things. I think Tim sent out -- I sent him the information on old school commons here in Connecticut and if you take a look down at the bottom you'll find there were five or six different sources and you're right, you've got to be proactive about it because if we don't develop more housing, we're just going to be facing the same issues. And it's important to maintain the stock of housing that already exists. >> TIM: Paul, I'm going to have to cut the conversation off there. I wish we could continue going, but out of respect for our presenters, participants and captioner alike, I'm going to have to ask we stop. Before I say another word I want to make very clear that any lingering questions can be sent to me at Tim@NCIL.org. And I will happily pass them along to Jay and/or Paul. Also if you all have any questions about these larger policy issues, 48 Deb on our staff was very regret full she couldn't make the call today, but she is also an excellent resource and so those sorts of policy questions can be sent to me as well. I want to pass a long my sincere thanks to Paul and to Jay for their time on both of these calls, and let everyone on the call know that your more than welcome to share any of the information and materials from today's presentation with your colleagues at your centers. The archives of the call will be available within 24 business hours at www.ilru.org. And please, please, please do not forget to fill out your evaluation form. If you want to wait until Monday to do it, that's okay, but please do it now if you can so you don't forget. That evaluation form is located on the materials page and one more time that's www.NCIL.org/training/housingmaterials.html. Those evaluation forms are extremely important to us as the training materials are extremely important to you. So please fill those out and get them back to us. Instructions on sending them to our office are simple and included on the form. And a word about the materials: My thanks also goes to Jay and Paul for getting us so much information in such a short amount of time. And I'll let you know that we did hit a few snags with a couple of PDF documents and we're translating those now to make sure they are accessible. We'll be putting them in pdf, Word and plain text format and sharing a couple of lingering documents with you all. We do have an E-mail address for all of our registrants. So again, we'll be passing those along to you. And we've also received a generous offer from Jay and ILRU to share a final copy of the housing financing paper that you've received and posted 49 online once that's complete. We'll also be sharing that with you. So my thanks again to everyone, our participants and presenters on today's call. This webcast is sponsored by the Rehabilitation Services Administration and the opinions and views expressed today's are those of the presenters and no endorsement of the sponsoring agency should be inferred. Finally, the webcast would not be possible without the efforts of the ILRU webcast team, Dr. Searle and our captioner Marie Bryant. So thanks everyone. Don't forget if you have lingering questions, you can send them to me at Tim@NCIL.org. Paul and Jay if you wouldn't mind staying on the phone, everyone else, thank you very much. >> OPERATOR: That will conclude today's conference.