Elected officials joined church leaders and housing advocates at a rally Thursday to urge the state to break an impasse that is holding up new affordable housing projects that would serve the developmentally disabled.
The rally in front of the state office building in Hauppauge drew a few dozen people, including parents of disabled adult children who talked about their struggles in finding permanent housing on Long Island where they could live independently.
The state recently issued a call for developers to apply for tax credits to create affordable housing, but the Office of People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD), which administers the housing subsidy program, required that the agency issue support letters in order for developers to include units for disabled adults. However, the OPWDD only opened a six-week window to issue those letters and that closed over the summer. The new window was without dates to align with Housing & Community Renewal’s window set to close Dec. 6, and the agency has yet to give the support letters to developers who want to set aside units in affordable housing projects for disabled adults.
Patricia Calandra, president of Today’s Housing Resources and Initiatives (THRIVE), said that there are a few affordable housing developments on Long Island that are planning to submit for the state’s 9 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credit round, due on Dec. 6, but they can’t proceed without the required support letters from OPWDD. She urged the agency to extend the window and issue the support letters to allow developers to move ahead with projects that will provide affordable housing units to disabled individuals.
“OPWDD and Housing & Community Renewal need to work together in this process,” Calandra said at the rally.
There are currently 464 proposed affordable housing units in Suffolk, according to Calandra, of which about 40 units would be earmarked for people with developmental disabilities. But they are ineligible for state HCR funding because of OPWDD’s refusal to provide support letters.
Suffolk County adopted $10 million in capital funding for non-certified housing for individuals with disabilities, but despite the fact that there are about 14,000 individuals with disabilities on Long Island, the county doesn’t have any of the 799 non-certified affordable occupied housing units that have been funded by the state for disabled individuals.
Thursday’s rally was supported by the New York State Council of Churches, the Health & Welfare Council of Long Island, Long Island Housing Partnership, Vision Long Island and Long Island Housing Services, all of which had representatives attend the event.
Vanessa Mancera, a self-advocate disabled adult who works for a housing nonprofit and still lives with her family, spoke about her hopes for the future.
“We need a safe place to live that we can afford,” she said.
