OMRDD Receives $77,000 Hud Housing Grant Award

ALBANY, NY (10/27/2008)(readMedia)--

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) a grant for more than $77,000 to provide comprehensive housing counseling to individuals with developmental disabilities, their income-eligible parents or legal guardians and direct care professionals, Commissioner Diana Jones Ritter announced today.

The grant for $77, 283.02 is almost $7,000 more than the agency received last year from HUD, and will fund HUD-Certified first-time homebuyer training for people with developmental disabilities, their families and the workforce. OMRDD’s curriculum was specifically designed for individuals with developmental disabilities, but was expanded in recent months to include other segment’s of the agency’s population. The grant will be distributed through OMRDD’s Office of Housing Initiatives and Supports.

Available training and counseling programs include:

● HUD-Certified Pre- and- Post-Homeownership Counseling

● Mortgage Delinquency/Foreclosure Prevention

● Predatory Lending

● Identity Theft

● Financial Literacy and Credit Counseling/Credit Repair

● Rental Housing Assistance

● Relocation Counseling

“Since 1996, OMRDD’s Office of Housing Initiatives and Supports has helped hundreds of the people we serve realize the dream of home ownership through its Home of Your Own (HOYO) project,” said Ritter. “This grant will provide greater opportunities for OMRDD to forward its mission of helping individuals with developmental disabilities live richer lives through providing assistance for them to live and remain in a home of their choice. This grant will also assist families and OMRDD’s workforce.”

In addition to comprehensive housing counseling, funds from this year’s HUD grant will also be used to hire, as OMRDD interns, three people with developmental disabilities and two parents who have a child or children with a disability, to assist with administering the program. The agency will also be able to expand the number of foreclosure prevention assistance programs provided.

Additional options available through OMRDD

OMRDD’s Office of Housing Initiatives and Supports helps participants design individualized living arrangements as an alternative to traditional group home living.

Housing Options

● Shared Housing – Participants choose who they want to live with.

● Independent living – Participants control and direct their own living arrangements.

● Rental subsidy programs – Housing Choice Voucher Program/Section 8; Individual Supports and Services; and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Section 515 rural rentals.

● Income-eligible home-ownership programs:

The HOYO project is open to income-eligible people with developmental disabilities, their parents or legal guardians and direct care professionals, and offers a wide range of supports, including information on low-interest mortgages, as well as homeownership counseling and training programs.

Mortgage Products

OMRDD has worked with the State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA) to develop mortgage products specially designed for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families.

The agency also works with the USDA Rural Development department, serving as “packagers” for their Section 502 Single Family Housing Direct Loan program.

Home Grant

The Home Grant program is designed to support homeownership for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. The program is available in 17 counties. Income-eligible people with developmental disabilities, and their families, can apply for up to $15,000 in home grant funds to use as a down payment, cover closing costs or to reduce the cost of a mortgage.

IDA Program

In July, OMRDD’s Office of Housing Initiatives and Supports received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Community Services, to assist OMRDD to develop the New York State Individual Development Account Program (NYS IDA) to help income-eligible individuals with developmental disabilities, their parents or legal guardians and direct support employees of state-run or voluntary-agency facilities with saving money to purchase their first home.

“We not only want people to be able to purchase a home,” Ritter added. “We want them to keep it.”

For more information about this grant or the OMRDD Office of Housing Initiatives and Supports, contact Lucinda Grant-Griffin at 518-473-1973.

About OMRDD

The Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (OMRDD) provides high-quality services, supports and advocacy to approximately 120,000 individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. OMRDD works with a network of nearly 800 not-for-profit providers to help people with developmental disabilities lead richer lives that include meaningful relationships, good health, personal growth and productivity and homes in their communities.

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