The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced a fourth wave of CARES Act funding – nearly $77 million to provide affordable housing to non-elderly people living with disabilities.
The money will support up to 8,300 additional vouchers provided through HUD’s Section 811 Mainstream Housing Choice Voucher Program.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson said the agency is working quickly to ensure public housing authorities nationwide are receiving the necessary funding needed to keep residents safe during the pandemic.
“This wave of relief funds will provide additional housing choice vouchers to residents living with disabilities, allowing them to live safely and independently through these unprecedented times,” Carson said in a news release.
“Since the inception of the Mainstream Voucher program in 2017, HUD has allocated more than $500 million for this program,” Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing Hunter Kurtz added. “These new funds, which were approved by the president in the CARES Act, will be important to help those most at risk stay at home during the COVID-19 situation.”
The program helps to further the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act by helping persons with disabilities live in community-based settings. The program also encourages partnerships with health and human service agencies with a demonstrated capacity to coordinate voluntary services and supports to enable individuals to live independently in the community.
HUD’s initial wave of CARES Act funding was $3 billion to help communities and non-profits help protect the homeless and Americans with compromised immune systems, as well as assist tribal communities in their COVID-19 response efforts.
A second wave of funding helped low-income Americans living in public housing, followed by a third wave to help communities bolster coronavirus and relief efforts.
Cover Story: