KAREN MICHSKI-KARNEY: Ann just told you about and showed you where to find housing that is subsidized. And where funding might be available to put together a project. Some of us live in areas where there's no land to build new projects or new housing and so what I'm going to do is just tell you about some programs that we got started in Virginia that you might think about advocating for. So remember the housing finance agency that Ann talked a lot about. We were very fortunate, they really had an interest in assisting individuals with disabilities to stay in their own homes. They actually had a consumer advisory group, and we developed several projects with the housing finance agency. So one of them, we referred to as RUAM, the Rental Unit Accessibility Modification grant program. And this is where we can actually do modifications to rental units as long as we get the landlord's okay. We were able to help the Virginia housing development authority which is our housing finance agency, recognize that even though people with disabilities are allowed to do reasonable modifications, how many of your consumers have the money to do that? Anybody? No. Neither did we. So the housing finance agency developed this program to make modifications to rental units to make them accessible for a specific consumer, and people have to be 80 percent or less of the area median income. Applications are accepted from agents and just about all of the centers for independent living in Virginia are agents and the fun thing is we actually get paid to do this. It's not a lot of money but we get $400 per project. And it is on a first come, first serve basis and the maximum is six thousand dollars which in our state, in the Southwestern part of our state, we can usually do maybe a bathroom modification, definitely a ramp, grab bars. We can do a lot of different things for individual consumers. And then they developed a program called granting freedom which is specifically for veterans and the veterans can be either homeowners or renters. We work a lot of times in conjunction with the funding that is available through the veterans administration. I don't know if anybody is familiar with HSSA grants, and don't ask me what it stands for, I have no idea. But we can use the HSSA month in conjunction with the money from the housing finance agency and really do some really complex home modifications for veterans, again, who are either renters or homeowners. So, you know, if do you not know who your housing finance agency is that's the website where you can find them, so that's in your slide. Any questions about that program? We have really, I mean I can't tell you, we probably have 30 projects that we're working on right now with consumers to do, especially the rental units and again this increases the housing stock. Because even if that individual moves, we still have an accessible unit so again we're just increasing – AUDIENCE MEMBER: How do you become an agent? KAREN MICHALSKI-KARNEY: How do you become an agent? Well you have to be a center for independent living and if there are not CILs then there are different entities within the community that HDA, the housing finance agency will approve to be an agent. AUDIENCE MEMBER: So a CIL is qualified to be an agent but how do you become an agent? KAREN MICHALSKI-KARNEY: I'm not sure what you're asking. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Do you have to apply to the housing finance agency in order to become a recognized agent? KAREN MICHALSKI-KARNEY: Okay, the centers for independent living did not. Now I don't know whether the other agents had to or not. Sorry, I can't answer that. But you can go to the Virginia Housing Development Authority website, VHDA. com, and you can look up how to become an agent. We just, again, centers for independent living were agents so we never had to go through any process to become an agent. Another question over here. AUDIENCE MEMBER: How did you get HFA to even do these programs because there's nothing that exists in our state. KAREN MICHALSKI-KARNEY: Again the Virginia housing development authority put together a consumer advisory group with representatives from people with disabilities, and we discussed certain issues that we had in the state, regarding people with disabilities finding affordable, accessible housing and this was one of the programs that came from that advisory group. So I don't know whether Ann, do you know whether housing finance agencies are required to have any type of consumer advisory group? ANN DENTON: I don't know that it's required. That is certainly an opportunity for advocacy. KAREN MICHALSKI-KARNEY: I can tell you that the Virginia housing development authority has never run out of this funding, regardless how many projects have been submitted, we have never run out of money. One of the things that we're advocating right now is for this program, the rental unit accessibility modification program to be modified to also include homeowners. But we haven't gotten there yet but everybody is aware that is what we would like to do because we do have a lot of homeowners who need home modifications. Any other questions? Yes, ma'am? AUDIENCE MEMBER: So are you a subcontractor then for that grant? KAREN MICHALSKI-KARNEY: No, we're not a subcontractor. What happens is an individual with a disability will come to us, they need a home modification, we complete paperwork. They find their own contractor, so we don't have. AUDIENCE MEMBER: The tenant does? KAREN MICHALSKI-KARNEY: The tenant finds their own contractor. We submit a packet of information. It's a lot of paperwork of course, and then VHDA approves the project and they pay the contractor, so we're not involved in that at all. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Do they require three bids? A lot of time they want competitors? KAREN MICHALSKI-KARNEY: Sometimes they do, but in areas like ours where it's very difficult to find contractors who are going to do small jobs of $6,000 they do not. So you can write up an exception and say, "We're unable to locate another contractor who is willing to provide a bid for this project." Any other questions? Yes, ma'am. AUDIENCE MEMBER: So the person is identifying what their needs are? They're not having a home safety evaluation or any type of, "Professional" assessment, they're just saying I need grab bars or this or that. KAREN MICHALSKI-KARNEY: Right and then we have to go out and we certainly look to see that this is something that is needed. Of course the unit that they're living in is not a unit that's been subsidized by any federal funds so they're not required to do the modification, and so yeah, that's the way it works. Okay? So this was another project and I talked a little bit about this other day and I know there are some SILC representatives in our group but we were able to write in a goal into the statewide plan for independent living so that people with disabilities have increased options for community-based living and are integrated into their communities. In Virginia, we have I think it's 16 centers for independent living, and we have an association called the Virginia Association of Centers for Independent Living. That association has done a couple of really neat things. We have applied for grants from different organizations and then we've shared the funding with all of the CILs and the CILs are involved in the project. So in this one the Statewide Independent Living Council provided funding for an individual to spearhead this project, and the CILs basically chose the issues that they wanted to work on from housing, transportation, or personal assistant services and we did state-wide training on housing, including consolidated plans, community development block grants. Some of the same things that we are learning here today, and from that project, we had one center for independent living in a very rural area that was able to get a section 811 project in their area and then we also had another center that was able to get some of the home funds from one of their localities used for what Ann talked about with the tenant based rental assistance. And those two things that came out of this project and we have a lot of staff within the CIL network now who are aware of all of these programs. So again another opportunity for some funding. We have a program called easy living home. This project has not been as popular as we hoped it would be. But basically, builders of single homes, duplexes and triplexes include easy living home features in the design and then what happens is the center for independent living goes out, make sure that all the features are included, and we get a small fee for doing that. But again, unfortunately this has not been a project that has really taken off. I've given you the website to look at. I think there are easy living home projects in other states. In fact I think is anybody here from Georgia? You started it? Is it going well in Georgia? Hold on, I'm sorry. AUDIENCE MEMBER: No, the easy living home program was taken over by Virginia after Georgia developed it. Georgia used it for certain number of years, and then it kind of laid dormant and then Virginia housing coalition, a larger affordable housing coalition in your state took it over and worked with the home builders to keep it going there, it's a state-wide program in Virginia. KAREN MICHALSKI-KARNEY: Right so just again another program trying to educate builders and others about the need for accessible homes. This is a really neat project. The DD council in our state provides grants for different issues and topics and so again the Virginia Association of Centers for Independent Living, we applied for a $220,000 grant and what we did was, we actually put together information that we shared with builders, engineers, building inspectors, official, architects, design professionals so that they would better understand the ADA accessibility and fair housing laws because we knew that there was a lot of confusion about what really people should be looking at when they're building housing projects. And let me get back for just a minute. Tim, did I give you the website for that? It's actually the VACIL website. After we did the first project, the DD council was so pleased with the way it turned out they actually gave us some additional funding to do an interactive training program. So you can go to VACIL.org and I don't think that's in your slides, and you can click on the online training program on the left, Tim, all the way down on the bottom. And if you just click on the manual or arrow. Go ahead and click continue and this will bring up different chapters and this is other possibly another tool that you can use for even training your staff who are interested in knowing about fair housing or ADA accessibility. Just click on one of those, Tim. So it takes you through a chapter. You do get a certificate of completion. And you have to reach a certain percentage of correct answers and things but again it's just a really neat way for individuals, architects, builders and people to look at what actually is required by fair housing and the ADA. You can go back to slides, Tim. I'm going backwards, sorry. I have issues with right and left. Another thing we got started in our state is the livable homes tax credit. I don't know how many of you have that in your state but this is a state tax credit for the purchase of new units or retrofitting existing housing units. And builders and individuals can get up to $5,000 in tax credits if they're doing some of the retrofitting or making new units accessible. So again, all kinds of different ways to try and increase housing stock that's going to be maybe not so affordable but at least accessible. Access Virginia, please pull up that link. This again was through the Virginia housing finance agency. We helped them to understand that there was a need for a housing search data base where landlords could put in their units and also individuals with disabilities could search too. Go ahead and click on find an accessible apartment. Like Ann said you have to take this with a grain of salt because not all of the information is in there and some of the information that is in there certainly is not correct. Go ahead and put in Roanoke. When I drive, people in my car can't tell me to go right or left. They basically go to the stop sign and go this way. Because right and left, my husband and I had just had a real issue with a dog of ours and he was looking at his paws one way and I was looking at his paws another way we were both talking about the same thing but thought we were talking about something different because of my right / left issues. So if you click on one of the properties, go down to where there's a picture of the property, maybe. Well it looks like we don't have a lot of pictures. So go ahead and click on one of the properties. This tells you a little bit about where the property is located, whether on a bus line. Go in and put in different requirements like handicapped accessible restroom or wide doorways or things like that and hopefully find some apartments that would be affordable to individuals with disabilities and again this was something that was developed through the Virginia housing authority finance agency. Back to slides time. The website also provides a variety of other information. The center for universal design. Olmstead initiative, state agencies, and an interactive map for the centers for independent living in the state of Virginia. Ann was talking about the housing finance agency being the entity that may get the funding for the balance of state. But in our state it's the Virginia department of housing and community development, so I don't know how many of you have a similar department in your state but this is another entity that partners with local governments, nonprofit groups, state and federal agencies and others to improve the quality of life for Virginians. And basically they have like a hundred million dollars that they invest each year into housing and community development. So if you don't, if your housing finance agency isn't doing some of the things that Ann discussed, you may have to look for a state agency that does these things. So we talked about the balance of state, the consolidated plan. They're also required to do public hearings, and it's another opportunity to show up and get the needs of individuals with disabilities included in the state consolidated plan. Community development block grant funds, I can tell you in our area we have been doing it for a number of years and each year it gets more and more complicated. We have actually had to invest in additional filing cabinets because the files are so thick. The paperwork is unbelievable, but again, you know, it's an opportunity for low income individuals who are homeowners within the city of Roanoke to have some home modifications that allows them to stay in their own home. I think Darrel you're going to talk about home modifications too. AUDIENCE MEMBER: So do you count those in the 704 report as nursing home diversions? KAREN MICHALSKI-KARNEY: Yes we do, certainly. Any other questions? Okay, so I will turn it over to Darrel. DARREL CHRISTENSON: Good stuff this morning so far, right? I always learn so much from these two. So far this morning I have been a participant, not a presenter, so we're here in good company. I did want to make a couple comments before I dive into my material. It was mentioned about landlords accepting vouchers. And I think what we've seen across the board, across the country is fewer and fewer landlords and management companies want to get involved with rental assistance, section 8 housing choice vouchers. As mentioned, there's a lot of paperwork, a lot involved, rather than just doing it straight up, fair market. So the number of units that our consumers can take a voucher to go and deposit them is drying up. And so I think what I would suggest on that end is to, you know, you laugh when I say this, but when you have free time, I knew the laugh was coming [giggling] go out and introduce yourself. Introduce yourself to different housing apartments and complexes and that's going to pay off in the long run, and I know that that's worked for us and again, keep in mind, you know, the big fat cat in Phoenix with the big programs and the campus and stuff, we don't have a designated housing person at all. So again, I'm with you, okay. But I know that my staff, who does the transition work, she says if she's meeting with a consumer and maybe going to another consumer visit, she sees an apartment complex that might possibly help out in the long run, she'll swing by, drop off business card, brochures, with materials about the center and how we can help them. Remember people are selfish. Right. And so in order for you to make that cold call, you need to just say, "Here's how I can help you fill your upcoming vacancies." I mean, I'm going to say it once more, but please don't underestimate the services that you can offer the community. You have so much to offer landlords. Potentially you have consumers that can fill them, whether they're in vouchers. Maybe some don't, and foster those relationships. Encourage them to get involved with section 8 programming. "Look the numbers are drying up and the need is great. We know every community has waiting lists, 1 to 4 or 5 years long." So if they get involved, there's a little extra paperwork but that's guaranteed money. If they're on a voucher system that's guaranteed money. It's not like Robbie moves in and all of a sudden Robbie loses his job. Well that rent isn't guaranteed. If Robbie is on section 8 program or home choice voucher, that's guaranteed money in their pocket. And what you need to do is flip the paradigm, when you go home on Monday, and flip the paradigm and say, "Look you need to sell this," And don't feel quilty about selling it. You're not going to feel, you should not -- please do not feel like you're a schmucky used car salesman. Because sometimes that's the way it feels. "I'm selling this," nothing more than a glorified car salesman but please do not feel that way on Monday when you go home. Because you believe in what you do. IL, independent living is your passion, and your management and your director believe in you, have invested in you this week, and you're investing your time and life to independent living, so the passion and the belief in what you're doing is already there. For everybody in this room, that's what we do. We have the passion. So it's not like you have a product that you don't believe in. You believe in this. So when you tell a landlord, "Look, here's how we can help you and we're also going to offer up independent living skills. We offer up peer mentoring, some of us have home care programming. We have other services to help make it a successful transition for this potential new resident on your property to help you fill that vacancy. " So it's already a product that you believe in. So you need to really think seriously on Monday morning when you get ready for work, look in the mirror and say, "Look I believe in what I'm doing and part of what I'm doing is helping people get a roof over their head and I'm going to sell it every way I can." That's what I want to do with my consumers. So it's nothing really new in that regard, it's just a different way of framing your job / career / life / passion of independent living. The section 8 program, I know this is a lot of changes have been made in the last five years, but I know one of the main companies that's making a lot of money on these 811 stuff and that's ASI out of St. Paul. Accessible Space Incorporated. Steve Vandershaff was from Minnesota, injured with a spinal cord injury and he started ASI 30 years ago. That was one of the properties that I referred to the other day saying it was a dilemma to support it or not because it is segregated housing or it offers more opportunities for people and people have that choice. But that 811, and if you go to, I don't know if their website is ASI.com or not, but it's Accessible Space, Incorporated. You will see properties across the country. They have provided a lot of housing. They are making a lot of money. And again as we have said this week, don't begrudge people making money. They are in business to do that. Question. AUDIENCE MEMBER: ASI has a short waiting list so for consumers that want to move to Montana, Wyoming, Kansas has a short waiting list, if your consumer could relocate it could be worth it to them. DARREL CHRISTENSON: Good. Again what you're doing is providing information to your consumer. You are providing information. If they choose to live in those types of apartments, that's their choice. Consumer choice, remember that part? Yeah. So your personal belief in whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, if it's segregated housing, if it's a new opportunity, that's not for you to say, it really isn't. It's up to the consumer. What your job is to do is to provide information. "Here's another option," So I just want to mention that, and the gentleman in the back, thank you for your comments about the con plan meetings. You're right, so often I think in all of our communities, very few people show up, and we have said this again all week and just to reinforce those who show up make decisions. So if you're the only one in that room with the con plan with the staff and it's just the two of you and you have a one on one and how beautiful is that because you have a lot to share. So be informed and be present. So again a lot of the information that Ann and Karen shared, use this and arm yourself with information so you're not just saying, "I'd like to meet with you or I want to attend this con plan meeting, but I really don't know what the hell I'm talking about. And I really don't know what I'm here to ask for." Well then why would they want to talk to you? They have a lot of time commitments, too. And Ann might have said, "If you're not at the table then you're on the table," I love that, I'm going to use that. Another comment I wrote down to, was on those HSSA grants from the VA. If you can knock it out of the park, God bless you because we've tried it and it's a bear. Those HSSA grants are really tough. One of the tougher things to do for home modifications I know of. And part of the reason why it's tough on our end but also with our contractors that we have worked with, with the CDBG funding and with our Medicaid program for home mods, is that the VA is very slow in reimbursing and paying, so I know that there's been a couple times where contractors have done work for the VA and it's been, you know, six to nine months before they got paid. And these are small business owners, usually a one man shop with a couple crew. And they need that cash flow to turn it around in 30-45 days and if you're looking at nine months, they get burned and they say, "I can't do business that way. " And again, they're in it to make business, so you got to understand that but if you all have different stories, in six months when we're on that call, then I'd love to hear how you did it. That was my preamble before I actually get into my message. Any questions on this so far? No I'm not Ann, I'm here! We are going to communicate the value of tenants with disabilities to landlords and developers and talking about the CILs and the business of funding those home mods. I had these up here just to reinforce so hang with me and again think about these bullet points as your sales pitch. Put them to memory, okay. 61 million Americans with a permanent disability. It's a big population. 20 percent and growing. One half of one percent is the cost for new construction to include accessibility. One half of one percent. Take a $200,000 house, or a $300,000 house. One half of one percent is not much, and that usually is the one to three hundred dollars. The realtors' commissions rise with more buyers and sellers and it doesn't matter what size city or rural area you're in, realtors want to make money, even in the rural areas and that is part of the equation and developers can market to 100 percent of the community, not just to 87 percent. These are points that arm you with information and facts. This is not fake news. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Where does the information come from, like if someone asks for the information, where does the information come from? The first one like the 61 million Americans? DARREL CHRISTENSON: The census bureau which obviously is updated after 2020 but census bureau and I think that's maybe on NCIL website, I have some stats, or ILRU. Yes, Darrell? DARRELL JONES: We have some webinar presentations on the ILRU website that give you links to all of the websites where you can go to get disability statistics. DARREL CHRISTENSON: And the cost factors, those come from visitability. org and you can look those up as well, and I think AARP has had good information on their website about cost benefits on the accessibility. You're nodding your head over, there sir? Right? Will okay thank you. Anybody else? Housing industry makes money. Again if you walk into Monday morning session thinking it's an evil thing that people are making money off people with disabilities, change that paradigm in your head. You need to embrace the fact that businesses are going to make money. That's why they're there, and your job, in a sense, is to help them make more money, because they're going to help your consumers and it's selfish on your part. Accessibility meets the community needs. Safer, more independent convenient homes. I tell you out in Arizona, Falls Prevention Coalition, and reading about the stats about how falls will happen. So often in the home, it costs with emergency ER visits, urgent care, hospitalization, nursing home placement, the costs are just tremendous. So if you can take even a low, low tech home modification. It might be as simple as suggesting that a consumer take up Aunt Mable's throw rug off the floor and maybe use it as decorative wall hanging, because this person uses a walker. Now we loved Aunt Mabel, she is a great woman. But that throw rug is a hazard. So that would be something as simple as anything and it can be in a sense, a low tech home mod. And it doesn't have to cost five figures get it? I don't know about you, but we have seen more and more people who are extreme cases of hoarding. "Don't go there with me Darrel. Have I got a story to share with you." So the staff comes back I couldn't find a place to sit to do my paperwork for the intake. I could barely get through, I had to move some stuff out of the way just to get in the door. I don't know what it is but more and more people are hoarding, so making a nice, kind suggestion that they might want to move all this crap out of here. That wasn't kind or polite, was it? But ways to increase accessibility and that's a way of doing it. We're not a niche population, we had some side conversations before that in the housing industry, that's the way they look at us. I just only see a couple people in wheelchairs around town so if they need a couple houses, why should I bother, it's a niche population? Again facts and figures, arm yourself and we have economic power. I mentioned that, and use it. So the whole mod option, the community development block grants talked a great deal about that, that's been around since the early to mid 70's and been a lot of talk over many years about actually zeroing it out. But again, going to those con plans and making sure that that's a higher priority for their community and using those dollars, even though they keep going down, use what you have and push it towards home modifications. The Medicaid providers, yeah, put yourself out there. Again what's the worst that can happen, when you have Medicaid providers in your community who are doing home care, respite care, meals and such. What about home modification? They know more and more, health insurance plans know more and more that it saves them money if they can put in a few thousand dollars on a home mod, it's going to keep someone safer, more independent in the home, and it's going to save them money from having to relegate them back to a nursing home, regardless if they're 25, 55 or 75, at a much higher cost So that really helps to wisen up people and if you need some help on that end and some of our agreements, feel free to reach out and help you with that. The health care plans, the insurance companies, and the HSSA grants with the VA. Look at all options. Don't leave anything off, and modifications increase the value of housing, even when the uninformed tear out accessible features. How many of you in this room know of a home that was accessible but when somebody who is able-bodied moved into it, tore out the accessible features? Quite a few right. May have been ramp. May have been taking out a roll-in shower and putting the tub back in, those kinds of things. My God, you don't know how valuable that was, but again the sales pitch. The aesthetics, talk about the decorator colors, grab bars, I didn't do my research on mauve and taupe. So I am still clueless. Wider doors, lever hardware. The open design, watching HGTV, you all know that. Of course we watch HGTV. We love Chip and Joanna and I have been to their store in Waco, Texas and my wife watches it every chance she can and it's a good thing we have two TVs because I need my ESPN and CNN but she's 24 hour on everything, Property Brothers. Chip and JoAnna, Beaches International, open concepts are great, right. Open concepts are in so when you're doing it, designing for accessibility, you're also right in style, right in vogue with designing for people without disabilities, open concepts. Right? Yeah. Well they're doing accessibility and they don't even call it that, they don't even know it. You're doing it and you don't even know it. The light switches, electrical outlets, no big deal. Steps all on one level. So be part of the solution. Be part of the solution. Don't be part of the problem, so you need to educate yourself. Put value to the housing, and the value that you add to the housing conversation. Just drill until you say, "I'm so glad I don't have to listen to Darrell repeat that," but you have value. Bring in revenue by being a part of the solution to this national crisis. So like I am not sure if I was clear enough on the Medicaid program, the one we have done, about two thousand projects in 11 years. We have a fee structure based on the scope of work, so for example, if the referral says installation of a couple grab bars, our fee to the center is just like $130. So we'll take that estimate from the contractor, add our $130 fee, to coordinate it and that is total project cost. And then I think we have, I want to say four levels and I don't remember what dollar amount. But the more work that's done, the bigger the scope, then the more our fee is, and they find value in that because as I mentioned the other day, their case managers, they don't know structural engineering, they don't know home modification and in a sense, all they have to do is sign off on the scope of work, and then sign off on the total cost. We do all the rest of the work for them and they find great value in that. It's efficient for them so that their staff can go on to do other things, setting up home care, setting up meals on wheels, you know setting up other services while we're doing this for this other consumer over here. It brings a little extra revenue in. Don't sit back and complain but be the solution in your community and recognize your true value. Don't be afraid to charge for your knowledge, for the home assessments, coordination of renovation projects, disability awareness etiquette training, for businesses, realtors, developers, offer that up. Offer, how many of you do disability awareness training and disability etiquette? Okay if you don't, get with it. I'm serious, get with it. You're a center for independent living for goodness sake. If you don't do disability etiquette and disability awareness training, what are you waiting on? The curriculum is out there. People are willing to share it. Use it because think about it, how many folks, either yourself or a coworker or friend who has a disability, they may have, you guys are going into the best restaurant, most successful for a dinner after work, great access, and they see two of them here, and ask, "What would your friend like to order for dinner tonight?" Because they saw Vidal's cane, right? And you're saying I don't know. You got to ask him, right! So it doesn't really matter how accessible, physically, the restaurant was, if you're getting wait staff like that, the two of you likely are not going to go back to that establishment again. What you can do is easily provide disability etiquette and awareness training. Same for realtors. Best new friend Sharon in the realtor business, she may have all the knowledge on accessibility now, but if she starts to refer to folks as, you know, "disabled person" or "handicapped person" it doesn't matter how many homes she wants to show, but with that kind of language and attitude, not getting our business. And again know that you and your consumers have the economic power to make the change and you have the responsibility. Responsibility, that's a strong word but I will use it, you have the responsibility to offer up disability awareness training, you do. Even on folks that have higher incomes, we'll do one of two things. Maybe someone is in north Scottsdale making big bucks, and they have 1. 2 million dollar house and they want to do some renovations and modifications and such. They do, we get those calls, too. And what we'll do is offer up, for a fee, a list of our contractors. We charge for our list of contractors, to people that can afford it. Don't be ashamed to do that and then secondly, if someone has just come out of rehab and they're overwhelmed, like, "Oh my gosh, this system is so messed up, I don't understand it." I say, "Yes, I know, we don't either." But if you're so confused about what to do for your home modification, we can help coordinate the project for you. We will do the home assessment, work with the contractors and get bids, see it through to its completion. And for a fee we'll do that for you." Oh my gosh that would be so great cause I'm overwhelmed with my husband / wife who just came home from the hospital from rehab." Charge! Don't be afraid to do that. If we have a certain price on our fee scale and someone says, "Look Darrel thanks, but no thanks," and then I will say, "Can you maybe negotiate and we'll give it to you for this?" Well that I can do. It's not going to change the bottom line if you're an agency by a lot but it's bringing some money in. Don't be afraid to charge. You have something of value. Housing vouchers and housing organizing in conjunction with policy, what did I mean by that? We'll find out. Just checking to go see if you're awake with me this morning. Section 811 supported housing for people with disabilities, Ann and Karen talked about that, authorized to provide capital gain grants and project rental assistance to nonprofit developers of housing targeted specifically to people with disabilities. That's what 811 is, and then prior, people with disabilities lived together with elderly residents in developments that were previously funded under section 202, supportive housing for the elderly, and again that's potentially explosive match. Seniors and young folks with disabilities. Those old 25-year-olds whip around their wheelchairs playing their music till all hours are partying just because their hockey team won a hockey game, they're in the complex, they ought to know that after 10:00 you got to keep quiet. Well the game didn't get over until 10:00. Just current events, I'm making it current. In case the people on the video don't know St. Louis Blues won the Stanley cup. Two types of section 8 vouchers, you have heard this tenant base that is portable with the person and unit based vouchers stay with the unit for those who are qualified to live there, and bullet point was section 811, tenant-based section 8 programs have set aside vouchers for folks with disabilities. The HUD block grants, home and CDBG, may be used by states or communities to construct or rehabilitate housing for people with disabilities. You're going to take this whole housing equation on all levels. It may be from a funding source, to do home mods, it may be from a policy standpoint because you went to a con plan meeting. It may be to legislature, city council, planning and zoning, you got to hit it from all angles, but work with your new allies that you're starting to wake up and realize that they potentially can be your ally. The low income housing tax credit, administered by IRS, may be used by states to target housing to special needs populations. Including people with disabilities. And some affordable apartment communities funded partially by low income housing tax credits are designed for occupancy by disabled folks and seniors. The thing with the tax credits, the gentleman that was from Gorman company, Brian Swatton told me recently it was at least 60 percent, maybe 70 percent of all new housing projects in the Phoenix area are using tax credits. That's been the funding of choice, or the area which most funds are available. So good news bad news, if you're looking at half full / half empty. The rents come down from fair market, that's the good thing, but they don't go down to the deep cuts that we really need for most of our folks. So you can kind of look at it both ways but there are some who can afford that, so that adds to your toolbox of services / information. The program provides the tax credits to investors so they invest that capital in properties to serve low income households. And these properties offer reduced rents, affordable to low income households and in many cases include other resources, such as section 8 project based rental assistance that make them more affordable to those with the lowest incomes. So again, you need to educate yourself on all of this. 811 mainstream vouchers passed by Congress in '92. Was first funded for five years, and then later in 1997, tenant-based rental assistance much like section 8, as I reported the other day, five housing authorities in Phoenix area approved for 212, we were written in and you can do the same, you can do it. Money follows the person demonstration. Something else I wanted to say. No that was a later slide. Money Follows the Person, demonstration from 2011. These gave states the flexibility to use Medicaid funds to help elderly folks and people with disabilities transition from institutional settings, such as nursing homes, to home and community-based. So how many here have or had a state with Money Follows the Person funds? Wow, good for you guys. Arizona didn't have any so good for you. And in March of this year, Congress reauthorized it through September, big whoop! By the time. I said they're so bold. They're so bold, I know. March to September, end of our fiscal year and by the time they doled out the $20 million I think was all it was just like petty cash, it is going to run out in September so by the time you gear up to help some folks, it's going to be here and gone before you know it with that little bit you get, so get on your representatives and Congress-people. Senate leaders. Section 515, a program run by the Department of Agriculture, provides low interest loans to developers, building properties, providing apartments to low income folks in the rural areas. Again, section 515, another piece of information, do your research, this is another option for you. These properties often have other federal subsidies such as section 521, rural rental assistance or it may have section 8 project-based rental assistance. Many of these 515 properties are designed for folks with disabilities and senior occupancy only. Nonelderly / disabled, NED vouchers may be available. These vouchers have the same rules as section 8. They provide rental assistance to lease apartments in the private market. The PHA have the option of designating some of their properties as, "Senior only" and lastly it includes public housing, section 8 new construction, section 515, and a few other types of affordable housing. Take a look at that in your bedtime hour and read about those vouchers. There I am and any questions? In the back? AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hi bear with me I'm not exactly sure I can explain this right but in the, you mentioned senior housing, and did you also say that they needed to or should set aside a certain amount of units for people with disabilities? DARREL CHRISTENSON: Depends on the funding source. Some are intended just for seniors and or people with disabilities. AUDIENCE MEMBER: So can the housing authority just determine or decide, make the determination of whether or not a new construction building will only be for seniors versus people with disabilities? DARREL CHRISTENSON: Right so if the funding source, let's say if it is a section 811 program, to which that complex is being built, then it does have that type of destination. If it's just straight up section 8, for the vouchers, then it's across the board for all. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you. DARREL CHRISTENSON: So it depends on which pot of money that they're going to be drawing from. AUDIENCE MEMBER: It seems like everybody wants to draw the pot of money that is just for seniors. DARREL CHRISTENSON: Well like I told one of the groups yesterday, I said as a nation, I think we're much more willing to do, to help vets, seniors, and kids. That's where the money is. Folks with disabilities, sorry. You know and so that's really unfortunate right now, as we sit here today, but that's why this group needs to mobilize and be barrier-busters in their community. So that folks with disabilities are up there with the other three groups. Talk to my new friends in the back about their low and high priorities on their con plan. Housing for people with disabilities was low priority, and under the special needs priority, accessibility was third under that one category which was already low. Their task in the action plan is to go to upcoming meetings because their con plan is being in draft form for 2019-2020 and that will be the fifth and final year of their five-year plan. Then they go 2020-2024 and that's when they get after it, they said, and start to pump that up. Right friends? Other questions? AUDIENCE MEMBER: Maybe there are some people here that's kind of experienced this and maybe you have with all the districts you have in Phoenix. Have you encountered challenges say in sort of smaller college communities where you're primarily getting nothing but luxury apartments popping up for student-centered housing and if you have encountered that challenge, how did you overcome it? DARREL CHRISTENSON: So yeah, Tempe, Arizona, has Arizona State University, 60,000 students. Student housing is what that community lives and thrives on, the students nine months a year. That is definitely part of their market that they're building for. But they also recently passed a watered-down but nonetheless visitability ordinance, and again, it depends on how you look at life. Is it half full or half empty. Tempe, Arizona is very landlocked. So it's not going to have a huge impact as it might with Phoenix which has broader room to grow. Otherwise, the Phoenix area took a hit badly in '07-08 with the housing bust. Property values went down tremendously. Now the rebound has been incredible. A single bedroom easily goes for over a thousand dollars. That's for one bedroom. I have a number of my staff that would probably qualify for rent assistance -- bless you -- and you know they're paying $800 for a studio apartment. And to make it even bleaker, we were one of the states where our teachers went out on strike because we're the second-lowest paid state in the nation to pay our teachers. And so when you have teachers and firemen and police officers that truly are eligible for rental assistance, there's something wrong with our priorities. Something grossly wrong with that. And so if my staff qualify for rental assistance, where do you think the rents are for our consumers? How feasible is rent for consumers when they're rolling in the dough at 750 a month? I mean there are some that say these people are not working. They're just living off the system. Well you almost get the impression that they had a yacht in their back yard. You know, sorry, but you try living on 750. It's just incomprehensible but I know that's not unique. You can go to Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Colorado. I don't care where you're from, the address is different but the issue is the same. And it's just totally messed up and there's a national crisis that I really am frustrated by that our leaders, "Don't get it." They just don't get it but as a developer, in say Tempe back there, if I'm a landlord and I can get a thousand bucks for a one bedroom, heck yeah, that's what the market is willing to pay. They are willing to pay because they have no choice. They are probably giving 40, 50 percent of their income to pay one thousand dollars for that one bedroom. But as someone who owns property, that's what the market bears. So that's fair is fair, right, and like we said the other day, millennials are not buying homes. They're going to rentals so that makes rentals even more in demand. And here in this nation, as far as I know, it's always supply and demand. So do the math, right. Chris, I don't know where people are going. I don't know what's going to be happening down the line here, but there is currently today, and yesterday, and on Monday and Sunday when we came into town, there's a national crisis. And our leadership just doesn't get it. I'm saying leadership on all levels. Your local city council, planning and zoning, your governor's office, the White House, senate, house, I'm talking everybody. Everybody is responsible, but I'll tell you one thing, the 90 of us in this room better get after it and get loud and be proud, because our leaders are only hearing from the other side. And the more allies that we can garner on our side, then it will bring them over to the light and get them out of the darkness. Because there's folks that just don't want to hire, not hire, but they don't want to rent to people with disabilities. Too much problem, too much damage, too many dog issue, it's too difficult, government programs, subsidies, too much paperwork. Draw them out of the darkness and into the light. Because I'm trying to get across to you all the arguments are on our side. You've got to be vocal and use it and build those relationships.