With NJ homelessness on the rise, the special needs community is disproportionately affected

by: Damika Webb at Fair Share Housing Center

Thu Jun 23, 2011 at 01:55:43 PM EDT

In a "friend of the court" brief by  Supportive Housing Association of New Jersey and the Corporation for Supportive Housing  to aid the New Jersey Supreme Court pending analysis of growth share calculations of the Council on Affordable Housing Third Round Rules, special needs providers urge the court to ensure homes are available.

The special needs community is the most discriminated population when looking for housing.  The average person with special needs pays 112.1% of their monthly income to rent a modest one-bedroom unit.  Nationally most tenants with psychiatric disabilities are too poor to afford housing at market rates and many operators or public housing and subsidized housing are unwilling to rent to them.  Persons with a disability are at higher risk of homelessness because a disability, particularly one relating to substance abuse or mental health, can make it difficult to work and earn enough to afford housing.

Nearly four in ten sheltered adults (36.8 percent) have a disability, compared to 24.6 percent of the poverty population and 15.3 percent of the total U.S. population. Thus, a homeless adult is nearly 2.5 times more likely to have a disability than an adult in the U.S. population as a whole.  

With rumors of legislative changes to New Jersey affordable housing, and pending analysis of growth share calculations by the New Jersey Supreme Court, one thing remains quite obvious, a system must remain in place that creates affordable homes for everyone, but especially the special needs communities.

Copy of brief can be found here.