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The Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC) has released State Funded Housing Assistance Programs, a report of state funded rental assistance and homelessness prevention resources for people with mental illness or other disabilities. Many states have established models of state funded programs to address the affordable housing crisis for people with disabilities or who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness. The report is intended to be a resource for states considering the development or modification of existing state funded programs. TAC reviewed 77 state funded programs across the U.S. and identified several characteristics of programs that can be useful information for states. Some of the challenges associated with developing and administering state funded programs are highlighted as well. Profiles of state programs are also included.

TAC found that:

• Most states have allocated funding to address unmet housing needs by developing some type of State Funded Housing Assistance Program (SFHAP);
• Most SFHAPs are designed to meet the needs of a specific target population;
• SFHAPs are administered by various state agencies;
• In general, there are two models of housing assistance that states fund: Subsidy and Homelessness Prevention/Rapid Re-housing;
• Most Subsidy programs employ a tenant-based model for providing rental assistance;
• In general, households are not required to participate in supportive services in order to receive housing assistance; and
• Most Subsidy SFHAPs do not have a plan for transitioning to permanent housing assistance.

For the report, TAC worked with the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), which will soon be publishing an interactive database of state and local funded housing assistance programs. The report was supported, in part, by the SAMHSA Olmstead Policy Academy.

View the Report

Learn More About TAC's Affordable Housing Work