|
In this Week's Edition
News
HUD Announces $30.3B for
Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program
---------
Executive Order Expands
Access to Community Living Services, Supports Family Caregivers
---------
DCA Receives $31.45M Additional
Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Funding
---------
Statewide Study on
Social Isolation Releases Report
---------
Reviewing 50 Years of HUD’s
Fair Market Rents and Income Limits
---------
NJHMFA
2023 Base Fee and Maximum Fee
for Accountant Engagement Contracts
Resources & Events
New Jersey Legislative Disability Caucus
Housing Roundtable Discussion
April 25, 2023
---------
CSH 2023 Community Housing Asset Mapping:
A Health Center Learning Collaborative
May 3 - 24, 2023
---------
Older Adult Mental Health
Awareness Day Symposium
May 11, 2023
---------
PLAN NJ Person-Centered Life Planning:
Securing the Future for People with Disabilities
May 16, 2023
| |
Point Pleasant
Apply by May 2nd
Denville
Apply by May 17th
Stratford
Apply by May 23rd
Cresskill
Includes special needs and non special needs housing
Apply by June 2nd
Add to this
Montvale
Apply by July 5th
| |
 |
|
--------------------------------------
Next SHA
Developers Meeting
May 8, 2023
Virtual
-------------------------------------
Next SHA
Members Meeting
June 7, 2023
In-Person, Trenton
-------------------------------------
Register Today
NJAMHAA
Spring Conference 2023: Transcending Today, Transforming Tomorrow!
April 25 – 26, 2023
Edison, NJ
Click here to register
-------------------------------------
Registration Open
HCDNNJ Summit
Healthy Homes & Communities Summit
April 28
-------------------------------------
Registration is now open for the 2023 Law & Disability Conference!
May 4th from 9am-1pm Annual FREE Law & Disability Conference hosted by the New Jersey Bar Foundation.
-------------------------------------
Abilities Expo
NJ Convention Center, Edison
May 5, 6 & 7
(11-5 F, Sa; 11-4 Su)
-------------------------------------
Join HUD’s 2023 Innovative Housing Showcase! The Showcase is a three-day HUD event on June 9-11, 2023, on the National Mall between 4th St and 7th St. The event will be open to the public and free of charge.
-------------------------------------
LeadingAge New Jersey & Delaware
Annual Meeting + Expo
June 20-22, 2023
Atlantic City
-------------------------------------
Save the Date!
SHA's 25th Annual Conference
November 3, 2023
-------------------------------------
| |
Special shout out to SHA members Community Health Law Project and The Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities as they join Values Into Actions on an upcoming grant project (funded by SHA member NJ Council on Developmental Disabilities), Finally HOME. The project will serve to raise awareness and expectations of people with complex support needs who prefer to age in place with supports that they control and direct and that adapts with their life course. Finally HOME will also inspire, enlighten and engage disability system partners to understand the viable and sustainable approaches and practices in supporting people with complex behavioral and medical needs and those who are aging. | |
|
SHA Welcomes New & Returning
Members In 2023
| |
|
HUD Announces $30.3B for
Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program
| |
HUD announced the availability of $30.3 billion for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program for calendar year (CY) 2023, which marks a 10.5% year-over-year increase. In an initial notice, HUD announced that the agency is awarding nearly $27 billion of the $30.3 billion to public housing authorities (PHAs) to renew rental assistance for the 2.3 million low-income households currently using housing vouchers. The notice also points out that, under this funding, HUD is making $337 million available to continue assistance for tenants in public or other assisted housing that is being demolished or otherwise removed from service, and $2.8 billion for PHA administrative expenses. By the end of CY23, HUD will award $50 million for new vouchers for veterans experiencing homelessness, $30 million to expand assistance for foster youth and families under the Family Unification Program, and $50 million for flexible new housing vouchers to meet other local housing needs. | |
|
Executive Order Expands Access to
Community Living Services, Supports Family Caregivers
| |
|
President Biden signed an executive order (EO) that includes more than 50 directives to federal agencies to increase access to affordable, high-quality care, and provide support for care workers and family caregivers.
The EO directs actions to improve job quality for the professionals who provide the critical services that make community living possible for millions of people. It includes actions to improve support for the 53 million family caregivers who provide the overwhelming majority of long-term support to older adults and people with disabilities. It also directs actions to expand availability of home and community-based services, including those funded by Medicaid and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
This White House fact sheet has more of the highlights.
| |
|
DCA Receives $31.45M Additional
Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Funding
| |
|
The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) announced that it will receive an additional $31.45 million in federal Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) funds for New Jersey renter households in financial hardship and facing urgent need. Due to the demonstrated need for emergency rental assistance in New Jersey and DCA’s success in distributing the rental assistance, the additional funds will be reallocated to DCA by U.S. Treasury from other states and localities in the nation that didn’t use them.
With the $31.45 million in additional funds, DCA will be able to assist another 2,500 to 3,000 households that are currently on the waiting list for the COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program (CVERAP).
This is the seventh ERA funding reallocation awarded to DCA since January 2022. The Department received $42.7 million in January 2022, $44.64 million in March 2022, $41.57 million in September 2022, $20.59 million in October 2022, and $30.47 million in December 2022. DCA was also awarded $33.65 million this January for a total to date of $245.07 million in additional ERA funds.
| |
Statewide Study on Social Isolation Releases Report | |
|
In January 2020, the New Jersey Legislature passed a law that required the Department of Human Services to study social isolation occurring in certain population groups. Human Services was tasked with conducting this survey because the Department provides many services across several divisions that indirectly and sometimes directly reduce social isolation for the priority populations in this study.
This report concludes that there are an estimated 2,346,393 vulnerable residents or 26.4% of all New Jersey residents who are socially isolated. Some suggestions to reduce isolation are provided. Some of those suggestions include increasing access to mental and behavioral health supports, ensuring more equitable access to health insurance, improving economic and financial security for low-income individuals and families and providing more community based programming to connect individuals with other community members. Situational or environmental factors, demographics and risk factors are presented from the Social Isolation Survey results and should be used by communities to identify, assess and treat isolated individuals.
Results from the Social Isolation Survey indicate assisting eligible low income individuals access cash assistance programs and other programs to lower monthly costs may reduce social isolation. If people have greater financial stability they will have greater freedom to spend money on extra trips into their communities, technology to facilitate virtual social interaction and other activities that come with out of pocket fees, such as recreation classes or bus trips.
The survey found that there was a relationship between isolation and poorer health ratings. Increasing equitable access to health insurance and quality health providers means that people won’t be living with unmanaged chronic illnesses and untreated mental and behavioral health challenges improving their ability to integrate and interact with other community members. Ensuring vulnerable populations have equitable access to health services is critical especially in times where there are emerging health epidemics and ongoing fears and avoidance of in-person interactions to reduce the spread of COVID19.
| |
|
Reviewing 50 Years of HUD’s
Fair Market Rents and Income Limits
| |
|
The following article from The Edge reviews some of the main challenges and developments that housing rentals have seen over the past 50 years.
Many people’s sole interaction with HUD is their annual pilgrimage to the HUD User website to obtain the updated program parameters that PD&R generates. The two most commonly used program parameters are HUD’s Income Limits (ILs) and Fair Market Rents (FMRs). At their most basic levels, ILs set maximum income thresholds for program eligibility, and FMRs help determine the amount of rental assistance a family will receive.
HUD’s preeminent tenant-based rental assistance program is the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. Both ILs and FMRs are primary operating parameters for the program. FMRs are designed to set a rent subsidy limit that allows households to access an adequate supply of modestly priced rental units in a housing market; that is, the lower-cost 40 percent of the market. A key feature of FMRs is that they are gross rent estimates that include the shelter rent as well as the cost of all necessary utilities.
Information collected by the U.S. Census Bureau has been HUD’s primary source of data for calculating FMRs and ILs. Processing time for decennial census data from 1970, 1980, and 1990 was typically measured in days rather than the seconds it takes today. Although PD&R had economists and social science analysts on staff at the time, PD&R also had staff who understood the socioeconomic information available through the decennial census long-form data as well as how to use the mainframe to parse that information across the many magnetic tapes that held these data. Interestingly, although PD&R staff have always been responsible for calculating FMRs and were always listed as technical contacts within the Federal Register notices announcing FMRs, PD&R did not issue FMRs under its own signature until fiscal year (FY) 2007.
Fair Market Rents
HUD’s FMRs have a long history. HUD developed the first FMR schedules in 1975 based on updated 1970 decennial census data. In 1979, HUD began supplementing 1970 census data with American Housing Survey (AHS) data to develop FMRs. The AHS-based FMR estimates were established at the midpoint (50th percentile) of the rental housing distributions for local areas based on a sample of units occupied by “recent movers”— households that had moved into their units within the past 2 years. PD&R included only rental units that met the Section 8 housing quality standards in its FMR calculations. Because the most recent AHS data were several years old, the rents obtained from the surveys were updated using Consumer Price Index (CPI) surveys of residential rent and utilities for selected metropolitan areas and Census regions.
| |
|
NJHMFA 2023 Base Fee and Maximum Fee
for Accountant Engagement Contracts
| |
|
Attention Managing Agents and Owners:
Compilation Engagement Letter for CPA’s F.Y.E: December 31, 2023:
Please submit three (3) contracts with original signatures six (6) months prior to the end of the development’s fiscal year.
The “base fee” has been increased to $4,790 and the “maximum fee” adjustment has been calculated at approximately 120% thereof to $5,750. Fees for accountants that did not prepare the report in the previous year cannot exceed the lessor of (1) the prior year’s fee plus 10% or (2) the “maximum fee”.
Engagement Letters Under a 2 Year Contract:
If you have completed a two (2) year contract last year; the second year of those contracts, which is the audit prepared for the period (year) ending between 09/30/2023 – 06/30/2024, the fee cannot exceed the lessor of (1) the prior year’s fee plus 10% or (2) the “maximum fee of $18,390. Six months prior to the end of the development’s fiscal year-end, please submit to RiskMgmt@njhmfa.gov the agreed-upon fee with your CPAs for the period (year) ending between 09/30/2023 – 06/30/2024.
Please note that you will be required to complete new contracts next year for the period (year) ending between 09/30/2024 – 06/30/2025. We will do our mailing for this in March 2024.
Engagement Letter for Independent Accountants F.Y.E: December 31, 2023:
Please be reminded that the engagement contract for the Independent Certified Public Accountant is available on our website. We no longer mail blank audit contracts. Please download the contracts from the Agency’s website. Should you have any difficulties downloading the contracts, please email RiskMgmt@njhmfa.gov for assistance.
Please submit three (3) contracts with original signatures six (6) months prior to the end of the development’s fiscal year.
The “base fee” has been increased to $14,710 and the “maximum fee” has been recalculated to $18,390. Fees for auditors that did not perform the audit in the previous year cannot exceed the “base fee”. Fees for “repeat” auditors cannot exceed the lessor of (1) the prior year’s fee plus 10% or (2) the “maximum fee”.
Please be reminded that Accountant Engagement Contracts may be completed for a maximum of two (2) years.
Questions? Need Help?
Please do not hesitate to contact our office with any inquiries regarding this announcement. Please email Kyle Graser at KGraser@njhmfa.gov for further assistance.
| |
Resources & Virtual Forums | |
|
New Jersey Legislative Disability Caucus
Housing Roundtable Discussion
| |
|
The New Jersey Legislative Disability Caucus invites you to our Housing Roundtable on Tuesday, April 25 starting at 12:00 pm ET.
Click here to register for the Housing Roundtable
The NJ Legislative Disability Caucus serves as a bipartisan forum within the New Jersey Legislature for lawmakers and their staff to consider the impact on the disability community when shaping ALL public policies in the Garden State through increased awareness and a greater understanding of the complexities of the disabilities service system and issues affecting individuals with disabilities and their families.
| |
|
CSH 2023 Community Housing Asset Mapping:
A Health Center Learning Collaborative
| |
|
Are you interested in learning more about housing and the homeless response system in your community?
Join CSH's 2023 Housing Asset Mapping Learning Collaborative to learn what resources are available to you and your patients, how to navigate the housing system and learn from national best practices in health and housing partnerships.
Through a series of virtual sessions and peer discussion, the Community Housing Asset Mapping Learning Collaborative will serve as a forum for health centers to gain knowledge, exchange expertise and solutions to challenges related to accessing housing resources for homeless, at-risk of homeless patients, and vulnerable patients. You will learn about local housing resources and systems that support those with housing needs in a community; different housing models and which best support patients based on their needs, and how to create needed health and housing partnerships to support patients.
Expected Outcomes/Learning Objectives for Participants:
- Increased understanding of how the homeless response system is structured.
- Build awareness of federal, state, and local housing programs, eligibility, and how to access them.
- Develop an asset map of local housing resources and programs.
- Discuss levels of health and housing partnerships that the health center can engage in.
Click here to apply
Session Dates & Overview:
Wednesday May 3, 2023
Understanding the homeless response system
Wednesday May 10, 2023
Rental subsidy programs and resources for special populations
Wednesday May 17, 2023
Housing and service models
Wednesday May 24, 2023
Beyond Mapping: Strategies for broader housing solutions
| |
Older Adult Mental Health Awareness Day Symposium | |
|
The National Council on Aging, in collaboration with the U.S. Administration for Community Living, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, will host the 6th Annual Older Adult Mental Health Awareness Day Symposium on Thursday, May 11, 2023, from 10:00a.m. – 5:00p.m. ET. This all-day, virtual event is free and will feature several sessions on how to best meet the mental health needs of older adults.
For more information or to register, please visit the event page.
| |
|
Person-Centered Life Planning:
Securing the Future for People with Disabilities
| |
|
May 16, 2023 | 06:30 PM ET
The purpose of this workshop is to educate families who have a loved one with a significant disability about the importance of planning for the individual’s future support. Planned Lifetime Assistance Network of NJ (PLAN/NJ), a SHA Member, will guide families in this legal and estate planning and life-long support process to answer the question, “Who will care for my loved one when I am gone?”
Description: This session will address future planning issues such as independent living supports; estate planning, legal and financial protections. Topics include how to implement a future life plan for people with disabilities, Guardianship and Supported Decision Making, Special Needs Trusts, and ABLE accounts. Handouts will be provided to families to highlight the topics of the session.
Our presenter will be: Jason Miller, Director of Social Services, Planned Lifetime Assistance Network of NJ (PLAN/NJ)
***Multilingual live captioning is available in this meeting. For the list of available languages, please go to: www.wordly.ai/language-interpretation.***
Click here to register for this webinar
| |
|
There are many great ways of supporting SHA: Join as a member or send donations.
Thank you for your support!
| |
Want all the member benefits with SHA? Visit our website or contact Joseph Christensen to apply or manage your membership.
| |
Members can post jobs to find applicants within the wider supportive housing community. Click on the button to visit our job page.
| |
Advocate ● Educate ● Support
The Supportive Housing Association of New Jersey unites its diverse coalition of members engaging development, resources, and information to sustain supportive housing systems within New Jersey. Since 1998, our statewide mission seeks to enhance lives and accessibility to enable independent living within our communities.
| |
Supportive Housing Association of New Jersey
185 Valley Street, South Orange, NJ 07079
| | | | |
