MENENDEZ, LAUTENBERG ANNOUNCE NEARLY $1 MILLION FOR HOUSING ASSISTANCE IN NEW JERSEY
WASHINGTON, D.C. – January 17, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — U.S. Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today announced the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) will receive $936,420 in federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding to help non-elderly residents with disabilities move from nursing homes to independent living.
“People with disabilities often face harder logistical and financial obstacles to living independently, and that problem is worse in tough economic times,” said Menendez, Chairman of the Subcommittee for Housing and sponsor of the “Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act” that just became law and will expand affordable housing options for Americans with disabilities. “Together with the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act that I passed just a few weeks ago, these funds will help people with disabilities successfully transition from nursing homes to independent living and bring greater stability to their lives.”
“This federal funding will allow New Jerseyans with disabilities to access the services and assistance they need to transition into an independent lifestyle,” stated Lautenberg a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development. “With this funding, we can improve the quality of life for disabled individuals throughout the state and help them move into their own residences.”
The federal funding provides vouchers to non-elderly people with disabilities, who will also have supportive services in place for the transition period. State Medicaid agencies and local service organizations will link eligible families to local public housing authorities that will distribute the vouchers.
Menendez said that this investment complements the bipartisan Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act that he sponsored and was signed into law on Tuesday. That law will likely quadruple the number of new affordable rental units built each year for low income people with disabilities through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s main program to provide affordable housing for people with disabilities (Section 811) without increasing the budget deficit: http://menendez.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=8812c051-eb71-4ff0-9b39-e9fe945243d5
