Federal boost comes to Summit, Portage housing programs for people with disabilities

Disabled people and their families who face a shortage of affordable and suitable places to live in Summit and Portage counties will receive help through a housing voucher program.

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded $484,580 to the Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority to create the program -- dubbed the Mainstream Program -- that aims to help 80 individuals and their families rent housing.

The grant money will allow AMHA to help provide housing to people who "may have otherwise ended up on the street or or in shelter," said Brian Gage, executive director of the housing authority, in a news release.

There is a shortage of affordable housing in Summit that meets the needs of disabled people, according to the housing authority.

The lack of accessible and affordable housing is the "number one barrier to Ohioans with a disability to live independently outside of institutions and shelters," the authority said.

AMHA applied for the federal funding in partnership with local service providers, including the Summit County Developmental Disabilities Board.

"We are thrilled that AMHA's new voucher program will benefit so many people with disabilities and their families who have housing needs," said Summit DD Superintendent John Trunk in a news release.

"This is the first substantial incremental increase in the voucher program" for disability families served by AMHA since the program began in the early 2000s, said Gage. The assistance program recently resumed after a hiatus since 2005, he said.

There is a need for more help, AMHA said.

There are more than 20,000 families waiting for AMHA housing assistance, and about 4,000 of these families include an individual with a disability that would qualify for the new voucher program.

Other organizations working with AMHA on the new program are Summit County Continuum of Care, Tri-County Independent Living Center, Direction Home, Family & Community Services, Inc., United Disability Services, Coleman Professional Services, Community Support Services and County of Summit ADM Board.

AMHA helps provide affordable housing to about 10,000 households throughout Summit.

HUD also awarded $263,646 in housing vouchers to Portage County as part of the grants that ares expected to provide affordable housing to 727 non-elderly people with disabilities statewide. Pamela Nation Calhoun, executive director of Portage Metropolitan Housing Authority, said the funding allows the county to offer vouchers to another 50 people there, in addition to the 125 the county is already assisting.

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