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HOUSING OPTIONS WITH INNOVATIVE ELEMENTS
Individual-Directed Supports Model: Mary’s Home
Mary lives in an affordable apartment complex in a barrier-free apartment. In this particular
public housing complex, the residents must be 55 years of age or older. Mary financially qualifies for residency with income from Social Security. With a State Rental Assistance Program (SRAP) voucher, Mary contributes 30% of her income and the voucher subsidizes the balance of her fair market rent. With the remainder of her Social Security check, Mary pays for her food, utilities, clothes and recreation. She also is eligible for food stamps and energy assistance benefits that help to stretch her limited income. A Medicaid waiver funds her supported services that consist mostly of staff supports. With the assistance of a Support Coordinator, Mary selected a provider agency. She interviewed and chose the direct support professionals referred by the agency. These workers provide needed services including physical assistance with transferring from her wheelchair, bathing, dressing, cooking, housekeeping, shopping, budgeting, taking her medications and finding her way about town. Mary’s staff supports her for several hours each day and are on-call in the event of an emergency. Mary has her own one-bedroom apartment with a fully accessible bathroom, kitchen, dining area, and living room. She does not like to cook. She mostly uses the microwave. The local church delivers Meals on Wheels with a hot dinner, a sandwich and snacks each day. On Sunday mornings, Mary’s neighbor drives her to church and then they go out for breakfast. The county offers a transportation service to medical appoint- ments, recreation and shopping. A van from the complex also supplies transportation to the local shopping plaza twice a week. She holds a membership and enjoys swimming at the YMCA swimming pool, when she has free time. Mary attends the community Senior Center for recreation during the day. Within the apartment building, there is a fitness center, computers, and laundry. Some of the neighbors started a social club and asked Mary to join. This social group convenes twice a week to play cards or games in the community room. They also plan outings to the movies, shows and community events. When home alone, Mary wears a personal security system alert button. There is also an emergency call button in her bathroom. In the event of an emergency, Mary can access help quickly through these monitoring systems.
HOUSING SEPARATED FROM SUPPORTS Ideally, a person receives supportive services from a provider agency and holds a lease from another entity. This concept ensures that the person can change where he lives but keep his service provider or conversely, can change his service provider but continue to live in his home. FAIR MARKET RENT (FMR) is the published rental rate established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and used for determining the monthly rent charged in an affordable housing unit. For more information visit www.huduser.org/portal/ datasets/fmr.html. STATE RENTAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SRAP) or federal SECTION 8 HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHERS are government-subsidized programs that provide rental assistance. Typically, tenants pay 30% of their income towards the cost of the Fair Market Rent and the voucher supplements the difference. An annual certification of income is required to verify that the person’s annual income meets the threshold for rental assistance. People obtain vouchers that are used to pay their rent (tenant-based rental assistance) while other vouchers are attached to the apartment unit (called project-based vouchers). You can apply for rental assistance through local public housing authorities in towns, county or state offices. For more information visit www.portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_ offices/public_indian_housing/pha/contacts/nj. With INDIVIDUAL-DIRECTED SUPPORTS, a person exercises more control to manage and direct the supports that they receive. He or she chooses the desired services and who will provide them. A support coordinator assists in planning and securing services. People who self-direct assume more responsibility for independently managing these services. The individual selects one or more providers to serve their needs, based upon a plan and individual budget. Most often, the person has the ability to hire and discharge their direct support professionals. A fiscal intermediary manages the funds and may assume responsibility for paying salaries and administering benefits.
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