MSHDA - Office of Housing Voucher Programs Policy and Procedures Manual

Chapter XIX: Affordable Assistance Housing Program

Effective: December 2003

(Formerly referred to as MEDICAID WAIVER)

Introduction

The Affordable Assisted Housing Program (AAHP) was developed in the year 2000 to address the lack of affordable housing for elderly and/or disabled clients who are forced to remain or enter nursing home facilities because they cannot afford suitable housing in the community. This project combines 125 MSHDA Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) with the Michigan Medicaid Waiver Program (called MI Choice) to provide eligible clients with a choice of affordable assisted living housing as an alternative to nursing home care. Affordable assisted living housing can be an apartment or home within a community or a unit in an assisted living facility

MI Choice waivers assist low-income clients who qualify for nursing home care to receive long-term care services in a community setting. It is a waiver to Medicaid rules, which allows the client to get the services they need and allow Medicaid to pay for these services. MI Choice pays for and provides an array of support services such as personal care, homemaking, medical equipment, and transportation. MI Choice is available through designated agencies throughout Michigan and a limited number are assigned to these designated agencies each year.

Currently the program is a pilot program and is operating only in Macomb and Oakland counties. At the present time, MSHDA works with the Area Agency on Aging (AAA) and Macomb Oakland Regional Center (MORC), two agencies in those counties that work with the MI Choice program.

MSHDA administers this program in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations for their Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program.

Section A: Eligibility

The eligibility criteria for the AAHP HCV is that the applicant must:

1. have a MI Choice Waiver;
2. be elderly (at least 62 years of age) and/or disabled;
3. be single, or a married couple if both persons will occupy the same residence; i.e. a husband cannot live in a nursing home and the wife elsewhere;
4. have applied for HCV assistance and be on the appropriate county waiting list based on their current residency.

Preference will be given to applicants that are in a nursing home or in danger of going into a nursing home.

Section B: Waiting List

• The AAHP uses the current waiting lists in Macomb and Oakland counties. A separate waiting list is not maintained for those counties, but eligible applicants are identified on it through the use of a special program code of “D“. The preference code will be “51”. The waiting list will be re-ranked during the monthly HAP generation.
• If a county waiting list is closed, and it is determined that the number of names with the special coding code on the current waiting list is nearly exhausted, procedures will be followed for purging/updating the wait list as identified in the Policy Procedure Manual, Chapter II, Waiting List Management. The processes for outreach, opening and closing the wait list, removing names from the wait list, and ranking applications will be followed.
• If a county waiting list is open, applications will be accepted on a continual basis for persons with a MI Choice Waiver.

Section C: Program Requirements

The AAHP Program follows all HUD federal regulations and MSHDA policies for the HUD Section Housing Choice Voucher program with one exception: The 40% affordability rule does not apply if the client lives in an assisted living facility but the 40% affordability rule does apply if the client is living in a private home or apartment setting.

Please note that MSHDA received a special waiver from HUD that was given for four specific counties in Michigan (Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne) waiving the 40% affordability requirement. This 40% affordability waiver is for tenants participating in this pilot only.