Center for Housing and New Community Economics

2002

The Center for Housing and New Community Economics (CHANCE) was established in March of 2001. CHANCE's mission is to improve and increase access to integrated, affordable, and accessible housing coordinated with, but separate from, personal assistance and supportive services. CHANCE's purpose will be to offer alternatives to approaches that segregate, congregate, and control people with disabilities. The IOD will work in partnership with ADAPT in all aspects of the Center. ADAPT is a national organization that focuses on promoting services in the community for people with disabilities. ADAPT and the IOD intend to collaborate with a broad coalition of people and organizations concerned with housing, economics, personal assistance services, and advocacy. The coalition will include people with disabilities and their families, as well as people from federal, state, and local agencies. Collaboration between the private and public sectors will be encouraged and facilitated. CHANCE's preliminary efforts will be focused on four major initiatives: 1. Project Access is a national initiative designed to assist people with disabilities to move from nursing homes into the community. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have established a partnership to implement this initiative. HUD will provide Section 8 vouchers. Using both Nursing Home Transition Grants and Medicaid waivers, HHS will work with state Medicaid offices to provide personal assistance services. HUD is contracting ABT Associates, Inc. to provide technical assistance to implement Project Access. ABT is an international company that provides program evaluation, policy analysis, technical assistance, and program operation services. ABT will subcontract with CHANCE to work in the eleven states scheduled to receive HUD vouchers. The work will be carried out from September 2001 through August 2003. 2. On September 28, 2001, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded two grants for implementation of the National Technical Assistance Exchange on Community Living, one to Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU), a program of the Texas Institute for Rehabilitation Research (TIRR), the other to the Center for Health Policy (CSHP) at Rutgers University. The goal of the grants is to provide, a program of technical assistance for grantees implementing programs under the CMS National Community Living Initiative. CHANCE will partner with ILRU to manage its activities on the Exchange Collaborative, with a major focus on working with states and other groups to implement Nursing Facility Transition grants. CHANCE will also work with grantees and others on systems change as it relates to transition and housing issues. 3. Strategies, Barriers, and Outcomes of Home Ownership for People with Severe Disabilities is a three-year field initiated research project funded in August of 2000 by the National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). This research project is systematically investigating the quality of life outcomes of home ownership for people with severe disabilities. The research will focus on the personal service, financial, and support network variables associated with achieving and maintaining successful home ownership. 4. The National Home of Your Own Alliance Clearinghouse. In 1993, through a five-year cooperative agreement with the Institute on Disability (IOD), the Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD) created a technical assistance center, the National Home of Your Own Alliance (Alliance). The rationale for promoting homeownership was based on the belief that non-traditional income streams and federal, state, and local subsidies could be structured and blended to support homeownership for people historically excluded from the housing market. Since 1998, the IOD has continued to maintain the national clearinghouse through an updated website, a toll-free information and referral line, and responses to requests for information and publications through electronic and non-electronic mail. CHANCE will: * ensure that people with disabilities are afforded the opportunity to direct all aspects of their lives, including where they live, how they receive their services and supports, and planning for their economic well being; * reject mandatory links of housing and personal assistance; * improve access to integrated, affordable, and accessible housing coordinated with, but separate from, personal assistance and supportive services; * work toward and advocate for systems change at the local, state, and federal levels and the collaboration of the public and private sectors; * encourage the collaboration of the public and private sectors; and * offer progressive alternatives to approaches that segregate, congregate, and control people with disabilities.

Center for Housing and New Community Economics

Training Trainees, Performing Technical Assistance and/or Training, Performing Research or Evaluation, Developing & Disseminating Information

Quality Assurance, Education & Early Intervention, Child Care-Related Activities, Health-Related Activities, Employment-Related Activities, Housing-Related Activities, Transportation-Related Activities, Recreation-Related Activities, Quality of Life

Students/Trainees (long or intermediate trainees), Professionals and Para-Professionals, Family Members/Caregivers, General Public

Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Disadvantaged Circumstances, Limited English, Geographic Areas, Empowerment Zone, Renewal Community, Reservation, Rural/Remote, Urban, Territory

Single-County, Mulit-County, State, Regional, National, International

N/A