In this Week's Edition
News
HUD Awards $1.1 Billion in Emergency Housing Vouchers Awarded to 626 Communities
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HUD Reinstates Affirmatively
Furthering Fair Housing Rule
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President Biden Signs Juneteenth Bill
for New Federal Holiday Marking End of Slavery in US
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Investment in Special Needs Housing
Trust Fund Takes Another Step
Forward in NJ Assembly Committee
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NJHMFA Reviews Updates to
Multi-Family Loan Project Prepaying
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DDD Updates on Re-Openings and Visitation
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Exploring State of Nation's
Housing with Enterprise;
Uneven Recovery in Housing Markets
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SHA and Partners Sponsor
Webinar on Aging Supports
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Social Security Administration Provides
Support for Online Video Hearings
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Freddie Mac Multifamily To Market
A Social Bonds Deal Supporting
Housing for the I/DD Community
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Autism Spectrum Diagnoses Increasing in NJ;
Averaging 1 in 32 Children
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AtlantiCare Free Summer Meals Program 2021
Resources & Virtual Forums
Employers Association of New Jersey
Free Webinar
The Post-Pandemic Workplace:
Legal Considerations for Employers
June 21, 2021
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Innovative Partnerships
for Affordable Housing:
Working Together to Respond,
Stabilize and Recover
A Conversation with
HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge
June 21, 2021
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Expanding Your Workforce:
Webinar on Hiring People with Disabilities
June 22, 2021
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National Council for Mental Wellbeing Webinar
Pride Month: Clinical Practices and
Policies for the LGBTQ+ Community
June 25, 2021
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Brunch for the Brain Webinar Series
Caregiver Isolation Before, During
and After a Global Pandemic
July 21, 2021
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Next SHA
Developers Meeting
1:00–3:00PM via Zoom
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Next SHA
Members Meeting
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Save the Date!
Celebrate 30 Years
with CSH
Virtual Celebration
September 28, 1-5 pm ET
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Save the Date!
2021 Governor's
Conference on Housing and Economic Development
Virtual Event
September 29th & 30th
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New Housing Available
In
Union Township
and
West Windsor
Check the latest new postings
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The Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania is Hiring!
The Housing Alliance is looking for two (2) highly motivated, self-starter individuals to be part of its Housing Capacity AmeriCorps VISTA team, working on affordable housing, homelessness, eviction, and blight issues across PA. One AmeriCorps member will be based out of the Housing Alliance’s Pittsburgh office and one will be based out of the Philadelphia office. Housing Alliance AmeriCorps VISTAs serve full-time for one year, beginning on August 30, 2021.
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SHA Welcomes New Members In 2021 |
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HUD Awards $1.1 Billion in Emergency Housing Vouchers Awarded to 626 Communities
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U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia L. Fudge has announced the awarding of the first $1.1 billion portion of American Rescue Plan funds for 70,000 Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHVs). The resources will be directed to 626 public housing authorities (PHAs) participating in the Housing Choice Voucher Program. This initial tranche amounts to slightly more than 20 percent of the $5 billion that the American Rescue Plan Act enabled HUD to allocate in additional vouchers to PHAs. EHV funding assists individuals and families who are homeless; at risk of homelessness; fleeing, or attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking; or recently homeless. EHVs help individuals and families find housing and remain stably housed long-term.
Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) and Continuums of Care (CoCs) must enter into a Memorandum of Understanding no later than July 31, 2021 in order to:
- Outline the partnership between the PHA and CoC
- Determine services that will be offered and how they will be paid for
- Detail prioritized populations and referral processes
- Delineate responsibilities and roles for the CoC and PHA
- CoCs are encouraged to reach out to PHAs as soon as possible to being this planning.
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HUD Reinstates Affirmatively
Furthering Fair Housing Rule
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HUD published an interim final rule on restoring the Fair Housing Act’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing requirement. The last administration suspended implementation of this rule and eliminated the 2015 rule’s procedural requirements, redefining the regulatory AFFH requirement so it was no longer consistent with the actual requirements of the Fair Housing Act. Under this rule, HUD funding recipients must identify fair housing concerns locally and commit to remedying them. This change will help seek systemic causes of barriers to fair housing and offer solutions to ensure access is possible.
The interim final rule will go into effect on July 31, 2021. HUD will take comments for 30 days after publication, and may act on them prior to the effective date of the rule.
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President Biden Signs Juneteenth Bill
for New Federal Holiday Marking End of Slavery in US
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The 3:30 p.m. ET signing event today at the White House comes two days before Juneteenth itself, which falls on June 19th each year. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris delivered remarks in the East Room. Federal workers will observe Juneteenth on Friday this year because June 19 falls on a Saturday. The New York Stock Exchange will not close for Juneteenth this year, but will evaluate a closing markets for the holiday in 2022, according to the exchange.
Juneteenth National Independence Day will become the 12th legal public holiday and the first new one created since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was signed into law in 1983 by then-President Ronald Reagan. Juneteenth marks the date that the last enslaved African Americans were granted their freedom. On that day in 1865, Union soldiers led by Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in the coastal city of Galveston, Texas, to deliver General Order No. 3, officially ending slavery in the state.
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Investment in Special Needs Housing Trust Fund
Takes Another Step Forward in NJ Assembly Committee
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Advocates applauded yesterday's news from the NJ Assembly Appropriations Committee as A1925 passed and cleared one more step toward becoming law. The bill requires $20 million dollars from certain realty transfer fee revenues to be dedicated to the "Special Needs Housing Trust Fund" (SNHTF).
The NJ State Senate recently approved the counterpart bill, S1255 and with A1925 hopefully on its way to the full Assembly, passage would get it to Governor Murphey's desk to become law.
Read the following excerpt from the Senate passage explaining the history and importance of the SNHTF in New Jersey:
The fund signed into law in 2005 authorized the issuance of $200 million of bonds to create housing for people with special needs and the homeless. The SNHTF has spent all of these funds on supportive housing for persons with disabilities in all twenty-one counties. Sadly, since 2012 funding has largely been depleted.
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NJHMFA Reviews Updates to
Multi-Family Loan Project Prepaying
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NJHMFA shares their latest response to concerns of the development community who understandably want to take advantage of the lower interest rates in today’s general market. In addition to newer loan programs offered through other governmental sources such as HUD, NJHMFA is making prepaying financing a bit easier than it used to be. First, NJHMFA loans may now be prepaid after 15 years, provided regulatory and processing requirements are met. This threshold was reduced pursuant to regulatory amendments in 2019 from a long-standing prepayment lock-out period of 20 years.
Additionally, the 2019 regulatory amendments also made prepayments approvable at the executive staff level, no longer requiring approval by the NJHMFA Board at one of its periodic meetings. In many cases, this results in a quicker processing time.
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DDD Updates on Re-Openings and Visitation |
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In a recent update, Jonathan Seifried, Assistant Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Human Services, Division of Developmental Disabilities shared the following news on congregate day program re-openings, as well as guidance on residential provider visits from family and friends. Additionally, slides and a recording will be available soon on the DHS COVID-19 webpage here: https://nj.gov/humanservices/coronavirus.html
The Department of Human Services’ Division of Developmental Disabilities is pleased to release the following updated congregate day program and residential provider guidance, which supersede all prior versions of these documents and is effective immediately:
Updated Congregate Day Program Re-Opening Requirements include the following:
- Directive for all congregate day programs to re-open at 100% capacity. (Please note that due to staffing shortages it will take time for providers to obtain enough staff to open at full capacity). Programs for medically involved persons may elect to limit capacity for a period of time before moving to full enrollment.
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Opening, re-opening and capacity are no longer tied to the COVID-19 Activity Level Index (CALI) measurement.
- Flexibilities related to masking and physical distancing for fully vaccinated groups (this includes staff).
- Flexibilities related to transportation.
- Attestations are no longer required.
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Exploring State of Nation's Housing with Enterprise;
Uneven Recovery in Housing Markets
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Throughout, the long-standing trend of households of color enduring greater housing challenges relative to white households has remained consistent. The greater economic toll of the pandemic on Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) has exacerbated many of these existing inequities, adding urgency to efforts to address racial disparities in housing practices and policies at the local and federal levels.
An article in The New York Times affirms the findings of disparities and the affordable housing crisis that is playing out across the nation. It finds a moratorium on evictions did little to address the bigger problem: The country is running out of affordable places for people to live.
For the past year, lower-income tenants have relied heavily on government support to pay their monthly bills. These measures have helped — about a third of renters used unemployment or stimulus payments to pay rent at some point during the pandemic — but the majority of renters still had to borrow or draw on savings to cover bills, leaving them less able to weather future emergencies, much less save for personal investments or a down payment for a home. (The New York Times, June 16, 2021)
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SHA and Partners Sponsor Webinar on Aging Supports
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Tuesday, June 29, 2021 | 2:00 - 4:00PM ET
Join our webinar on June 29th to reflect on lessons learned over the past year and to discuss emerging home and community-based services that enable older adult residents to age in the community. This meeting will also explore how strategic partnerships can expand the knowledge of housing and service navigators, consumers and their caregivers on community-based, long-term care choices like Programs for All-Inclusive Care of the Elderly (PACE) a.k.a. LIFE and the N.J. Assisted Living Program.
This event is hosted by Capital Impact Partners and sponsored by LeadingAge New Jersey & Delaware, The Supportive Housing Association of New Jersey, and Corporation for Supportive Housing. It is made possible through generous support from The Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation.
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Social Security Administration Provides
Support for Online Video Hearings
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In December 2020, the Social Security Administration (SSA) began sending special hearing notices offering a new option of an online video hearing for anyone awaiting a hearing with an SSA administrative law judge (ALJ) during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online video hearing is a free, secure option for claimants and representatives to interact via video directly with the ALJ using Microsoft Teams.
To enhance your understanding of Microsoft Teams and online video hearings, SSA has created a new webpage specifically designed for the representative community. The online video hearing representative web page contains a wealth of information related to online video hearings, including training materials and a new step-by-step training video for representatives. These new materials should give you the opportunity to quickly master Microsoft Teams and gain a deeper understanding of the online video hearing process.
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Freddie Mac Multifamily To Market A Social Bonds Deal Supporting Housing for the I/DD Community |
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Freddie Mac Multifamily announced that it will soon go to market with the issuance of $230 million in Social Bonds supporting 1,267 rental homes across 39 states and the District of Columbia for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The proceeds from these Social Bonds help address the significant shortage of community-based homes critical to the “deinstitutionalization” of care for individuals with disabilities. The properties provide 4,462 beds, approximately 90% being affordable to people with very low incomes making 50% of the area median income and allow individuals with disabilities to live and work in their communities.
According to the company’s Social Bonds Framework, the proceeds of Freddie Mac’s Social Bonds are used either to provide liquidity to social impact financial institutions for financing of affordable housing or to finance multifamily properties originated by the Freddie Mac Multifamily Optigo® network that are affordable to an underserved population. Institutions receiving liquidity and properties financed from Social Bonds proceeds are expected to foster various socioeconomic opportunities for residents and their communities, in addition to providing affordable housing to low- to moderate-income families.
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Autism Spectrum Diagnoses Increasing in NJ;
Averaging 1 in 32 Children
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New Jersey's rate of autism among children has always been high, but some of the largest school districts — including Toms River, Newark, Jersey City and Elizabeth — have rates even higher than the state average. The statistics mask the huge range of severity among children with autism, said Suzanne Buchanan, a psychologist and executive director of Autism New Jersey, a non-profit advocacy organization. She likened it to saying children with asthma and with lung cancer all have “lung disease.” Their needs — and the gaps in addressing those needs — differ.
Most children with autism are not intellectually disabled but need support for communication and social engagement and to help to address behavior that may be repetitive or obsessive, she said. Others have profound intellectual disabilities with overlapping medical or psychological diagnoses; they may be unable to communicate or care for themselves, and in some cases, have self-injurious behavior.
New Jersey’s rate of autism has been the highest in nearly every biannual study conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control’s autism monitoring network since 2000. Last year’s report, based on 2016 data and released at the peak of the COVID pandemic, found that an average of one in 54 children at the 11 monitoring sites around the country was identified with autism. In New Jersey, however, the rate was one in 32.
That high rate is explained in part by high levels of public awareness and better screening and recognition by educators and pediatricians. It’s likely that other states are underestimating the number of children with autism, experts say. (Asbury Park Press, June 15, 2021)
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AtlantiCare Free Summer Meals Program 2021 |
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STARTING JUNE 29, 2021
TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS | NO ID REQUIRED
11:30 AM - 1:30 PM
FAMILIES MUST REGISTER AT
LOCATION:
ATLANTICARE HEALTHPLEX, 1401 ATLANTIC AVENUE, ATLANTIC CITY
No ID required. Meals will be distributed at lunch time for grab-and-go.
Please wear a protective mask and follow social distancing guidelines.
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Resources & Virtual Forums |
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Employers Association of New Jersey Free Webinar
The Post-Pandemic Workplace:
Legal Considerations for Employers
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June 21, 2021 | 10:00 - 11:00 AM ET
While COVID-19 may not be entirely in the rear-view mirror, we can now reasonably say that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Schools are scheduled for full-time, in-person instruction Both employers and employees want to return to normal, but “normalcy” cannot be achieved with a flip of the switch. Health, safety and worker protection laws enacted during the pandemic have permanently altered the workplace and unvaccinated workers may block attempts to achieve optimal business results.
John Sarno, Esq., President of the Employers Association of New Jersey (EANJ) will present this webinar, which will cover the following topics:
- Updated Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Occupational Safety and Health Administration
- The Status of New Jersey’s Public Health Emergency Orders
- The Status of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act of 2020 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
- Whistleblowing
- Promoting the Vaccine
- Americans with Disabilities Act - Reasonable Accommodations
Our thanks to NJAMHAA for sharing this webinar resource
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Innovative Partnerships for Affordable Housing:
Working Together to Respond, Stabilize and Recover
A Conversation with HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge
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Monday, June 21, 2021 | 3:00 - 4:00 PM ET
Join Enterprise Community Partners President/CEO Priscilla Almodovar and Solutions Division President Jacqueline Waggoner for a conversation with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia L. Fudge, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and other local leaders. They will discuss the impact of Covid-19 on housing affordability and highlight efforts to respond to the crisis, stabilize households and ensure the long-term equitable recovery of our communities.
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Expanding Your Workforce:
Webinar on Hiring People with Disabilities
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June 22, 2021 | 1:00 - 2:30 PM ET
Join the New Jersey Business & Industry Association in collaboration with many statewide partners for a webinar to discuss the benefits and process of hiring individuals with disabilities and how they will help your company thrive.
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National Council for Mental Wellbeing Webinar
Pride Month: Clinical Practices and
Policies for the LGBTQ+ Community
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Friday, June 25, 2021 | 2:30-3:30PM ET
In celebrating Pride Month, National Council and our partners will be sharing the most up-to-date information on clinical practices and policies for the LGBTQ+ community! Learn how COVID-19 has impacted LGBTQ+ persons’ mental health and substance use conditions from organizations that are increasing access to mental health and substance use care for LGBTQ+ individuals and informing the public on ways to strengthen care through policy.
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Brunch for the Brain Webinar Series
Caregiver Isolation Before, During and After a Global Pandemic
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Brunch for the Brain Webinar Series
Third Wednesday Each Month Through December
Wednesday, July 21, 2021 | 12:00 PM ET
Isolation is something that many people encountered for the first time during the global pandemic. But the state of being isolated from friends, family, or even kind strangers is something older adults, persons with disabilities, and family caregivers have experienced for a very long time and will likely continue to experience long after the world fully reopens.
One way to prevent or minimize isolation, which can lead to depression, anxiety, and even suicidal ideation, is to increase access to Home & Community Based Services (HCBS). By making sure the people in our communities who are most vulnerable to isolation get the regular interaction, care, and engagement we all need to thrive as human beings.
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There are many great ways of supporting SHA: Join as a member, send donations, or shop with AmazonSmile. Thank you for your support!
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Want all the member benefits with SHA? Visit our website or contact Joseph Christensen to apply or manage your membership.
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Members can post jobs to find applicants within the wider supportive housing community. Click on the button to visit our job page.
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Diane Riley, Executive Director
Joseph Christensen, Membership & Communication Manager
Kate Kelly, MSW – Integrated Community Project Manager
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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.
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Supportive Housing Association of New Jersey
185 Valley Street, South Orange, NJ 07079
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