OHFA Annual Plan - Ohio Housing Finance Agency

• In collaboration with the Department of Public Welfare (DPW) PHFA were able torecapture savings from the closing of ICF/MRs and allocate them to the PHFA.These reinvestment funds came from 10 counties (the only areas with a significantamount) and the PHFA is using them to administer a tenant-based rental assistanceprogram (TBRA) that targets people relocating from institutional settings back intothe community. As of February 2008, the two agencies are drafting a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) defining the program details (and establishing an escrow accountfrom which PHFA will receive payment). They anticipate that the funds ($750,000 instate only funds) will provide rental assistance to approximately 75 people this year,and hope to be able to double the funding next year. The TBRA is administered throughthe Philadelphia Public Housing Authority, which also administers the section 8 voucherprogram and promises that these 75 people will have a voucher within two years(the average wait time for section 8 vouchers in Pennsylvania is 18 to 24 months). Ashortage of accessible units in the Philadelphia area has proven to be a major barrier.If the vouchers do NOT become available, the risk is taken by DPW, not the housingauthority.• Pennsylvania is also looking at ways to reinvest state Medicaid savings from NF bedsgoing offline to make housing tax credit units more affordable for people leavinginstitutions. Better coordination by DPW with Pennsylvania’s Department of Communityand Economic Development has resulted in a contract with PHFA, to date subsidizingmore than 500 units that are now affordable to tenants at 20 percent of the areamedian income.Iowa Finance Authority• This rent subsidy program aids people who receive services under a federal Medicaidwaiver program called home- and community-based service (HCBS) and who are at riskof nursing facility placement. The program provides a monthly rent assistance paymentto these persons to help them live successfully in their own home and community, untilthey become eligible for any other local, state or federal rent assistance. For a person tobe eligible for the HCBS Rent Subsidy program they must meet the following criteria:• HCBS Recipient - The person must currently be an adult recipient of one of thehome- and community-based service waiver program or a child (under 18 yearsof age) receiving residential-based supported community living services under themental retardation HCBS waiver program.• Demonstrated Need - The person must provide evidence that they are responsiblefor paying more than 30 percent of their income for rent and they have beendetermined ineligible, or have been placed on a waiting list, for U.S. Departmentof Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rental assistance or any other availablerental subsidy programs. Persons receiving other rental assistance at the timeof, or prior to the time of application to the HCBS Rent Subsidy program are noteligible. A person who declines a HUD Housing Choice Voucher or fails to respondto a notice from the public housing authority when a voucher becomes available isno longer eligible for the HCBS Rent Subsidy Program. The Housing Choice Voucheris also referred to as a Section 8 voucher.• Risk of Nursing Facility Placement - The person must demonstrate both: 1) theyhave insufficient funds to pay for their community housing cost and that insufficientfunds will cause them to enter a nursing facility; and 2) participation in an HCBSwaiver will prevent them from entering a nursing facility and that access to therent subsidy program is required so that they may live in a community livingarrangement permitted under the waiver.84