North Carolina Olmstead Settlement Initiative. What is Olmstead? Olmstead v. L.C. is a US Supreme...

North Carolina Olmstead Settlement

Initiative

What is Olmstead?

Olmstead v. L.C. is a US Supreme Court Decision

in 1999

What is Olmstead?The US Supreme Court held that public entities (state and local government) have an affirmative obligation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to ensure that individuals with disabilities live in the least restrictive, most integrated settings as possible, provided the setting is appropriate for the individual.

What is Olmstead?

The regulations implementing Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) define an integrated setting as one that “enables individuals with disabilities to interact with nondisabled persons to the fullest extent possible”

Implementing Olmstead

The decision required states to create a comprehensive, effectively working plan for placing qualified persons with mental disabilities in less restrictive settings, and have a waiting list that moves at a reasonable pace not controlled by the state’s endeavors to keep its institutions fully populated, to demonstrate that the reasonable modification standard of the ADA is met.

Implementing Olmstead

For an Olmstead Plan to serve as a reasonable defense against legal action it must include, “…concrete and reliable commitments to expand integrated opportunities… and there must be funding to support the plan.”

North Carolina Olmstead Complaint

A Brief History

•1990 Passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

•1999 US Supreme Court Olmstead decision

North Carolina Olmstead Complaint

A Brief History

• July 29, 2010 Disability Rights NC files a complaint with the US Department of Justice alleging failure to comply with Olmstead

• July 28, 2011 US Department of Justice issued a “Findings Letter”

• August 23, 2012 North Carolina entered into a Settlement Agreement with the US Department of Justice

Settlement Agreement Housing Milestones

• July 1, 2013 - move 300 individuals (with a min of 100) from institutional settings into integrated housing

• July 1, 2014 – move an additional 150 individuals

• July 1, 2015 – move a total of 708 individuals

Settlement Agreement Housing Milestones

• July 1, 2016 – move a total of 1,166 individuals





North Carolina Housing Tools to Implement the

Olmstead Settlement Agreement

Transitions to Community Living Initiative (TCLI)

• Tenant based rental assistance with wrap around supports available only to persons in the Settlement Class

• Used with any affordable rental housing that meets HUD Housing Quality Standards (HQS)

• Administered by DHHS

North Carolina Housing Tools to Implement the

Olmstead Settlement Agreement

Targeting and Key

• Project based Tax Credit units with Key rental assistance

• 10% of the units in each project as mandated by the QAP

• Anyone with a disability may be eligible, but a priority to house individuals within the Settlement Class is now in place.

• Jointly administered by DHHS and NCHFA

Criticisms of North Carolina’s Current Efforts

1. We are not meeting the milestones of the Settlement Agreement and must

develop a plan to get on track


2. There are inadequate numbers of appropriately sized affordable rental units in the DHHS priority counties


3. There are inadequate numbers of affordable 1 bedroom apartments across the state in general

Criticisms ofNorth Carolina’s Current Efforts

4. Too many of the individuals in the Settlement Class are being screened out of the Targeted tax credit units because of credit and criminal histories

Stakeholder Suggested Corrective Actions

1. We are not meeting the milestones of the Settlement Agreement and must develop a plan to get on track

Suggestion: Redirect/divert additional housing resources to meet the settlement

agreement


2. There are inadequate numbers of appropriately sized affordable rental units in the DHHS priority counties

Suggestion: Focus the Tax Credit development program on the DHHS priority counties


3. There are inadequate numbers of affordable 1 bedroom rental units across the state in general

Suggestion: Use the QAP to mandate the inclusion of 1 bedroom units in all properties


4. Too many of the individuals in the Settlement Class are being screened out of the Targeted tax credit units because of credit and criminal histories

Suggestion: Use the QAP to mandate reduced screening of persons in the Settlement Class to insure access to Targeted units

NCHFA’s Response 1. We are not meeting the milestones of the Settlement Agreement and must develop a plan to get on track

Suggestion: Redirect/divert additional housing resources to meet the settlement agreement

• We are recruiting RD, HUD and older, not already participating Tax Credit and non TC properties to sign up for Targeting and Key• We are recruiting already participating Tax

Credit properties to increase Targeting and Key participation to 20% of their units

NCHFA’s Response 2. There are inadequate numbers of appropriately sized affordable rental units in the DHHS priority counties

Suggestion: Focus the Tax Credit development program in the DHHS priority counties

We are proposing incentives in the QAP for developments in the DHHS priority counties

NCHFA’s Response 3. There are inadequate numbers of affordable 1 bedroom apartments across the state in general

Suggestion: Use the QAP to mandate the inclusion of 1 bedroom units in all properties

We are proposing incentives in the QAP for developments that include 1 bedroom units

NCHFA’s Response 4. Too many of the individuals in the Settlement Class are being screened out of the Targeted tax credit units because of credit and criminal histories

Suggestion: Use the QAP to mandate reduced screening of persons in the Settlement Class to insure access to Targeted units

We are encouraging management agents to re-think Credit and Criminal screening policies

Credit – Our Ask

Please waive checking credit for households in Targeted Units

Why?

Credit – Our AskWhy?

We are providing risk mitigation tools to substantially reduce financial risk• Key Rent Assistance pays a significant percentage of

the rent• We pay the security deposits based on the payment

standard ($500 for a 1 bedroom unit) – often higher than the deposit collected for non-Targeted units• We reimburse unpaid damages• We reimburse unpaid tenant portion of rent• We reimburse for vacancy due to tenant

abandonment of unit• We plan to start reimbursing the costs of evictions

(working on rules to implement)

Criminal History – Our Ask

Please review your criminal history policy and compare it to the model policy being developed by NCHFA, DHHS and the NC Justice Center and modify your policy to align

where possible

Why?

Criminal History – Our Ask

Why?• Policies that are too restrictive may be

construed as a Fair Housing violation

• The US Supreme Court’s recent Disparate Impact ruling makes screening and the impacts on protected classes a likely area of increased future litigation

• If we fail to house substantially more members of the Settlement Class in Tax Credit housing, the US DOJ may impose less desirable remedies

More on our Recruiting Efforts

• All units not mandated by the QAP are considered voluntary

• Voluntary units have no long term participation commitments

• Properties that offer voluntary units may be eligible for enhanced payment standard in high rent counties

• Program will strive to further reduce unit hold times and pay for holds after a reasonable period

• We are recruiting units across the state with a priority on the DHHS High Demand counties

We Need Your Help to Meet the Terms of the Settlement Agreement

Should we fail, the next round of remedies may be imposed on us

North Carolina Olmstead Settlement Initiative. What is Olmstead? Olmstead v. L.C. is a US Supreme...

Documents

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