Movin’ Out, Inc.

Summary: The Partnership helped create Movin’ Out, Inc., during the early 1990s. We subsequently helped the organization design a loan program and obtain CHDO certification. That designation allowed Movin’ Out to co-sponsor two of our development projects, Coachyard Square and The Uplands. Most recently, we assisted Movin' Out with an expansion of its rental housing activities, which included absorbing the work of the Wisconsin Initiative for Sustainable Housing (WISH).

Staff contacts: Joanna Balsamo-Lilien

Wisconsin Partnership's role: Consultant/CHDO TA provider

Status of work: Ongoing

In 1992 a group of parents and guardians approached the Partnership for help finding independent living options for their adult children with disabilities. Partnership staff assisted the group with the organizational steps necessary to create a new nonprofit—Movin’ Out, Inc.—to help people with disabilities find housing of their choice, with an emphasis on home ownership. The Partnership’s assistance included all aspects of incorporation, staffing and program design. For a short time, the Partnership also provided office space and administrative support for Movin’ Out’s one-person staff.

Fundamental to Movin’ Out’s work is comprehensive housing counseling, which can allow people who receive Social Security disability or other public benefits to purchase homes without jeopardizing their incomes or support services. Movin’ Out also assists households with budgeting, finding an optimal home location, applying for down payment assistance, negotiating with developers and landlords to secure adaptations needed for health or physical accessibility, and linking with support service providers to coordinate housing and support needs. The organization also manages down payment assistance and rehabilitation loan programs that have helped nearly 1,000 households in 60 Wisconsin counties.

In 1997 the Partnership worked with Movin’ Out and the City of Madison to design a second-mortgage home loan program for income-eligible households who have members with permanent disabilities. Work included development of a manual containing operating policies and lending guidelines.

After its major programs became well established, Movin’ Out wished to do more to expand the supply of affordable housing for people with disabilities. The Partnership helped the organization obtain CHDO certification, which allowed Movin’ Out to act as sponsor of the Partnership’s Coachyard Square development. They brought HOME funds into the project and helped locate qualified buyers for 11 of the homes, including 6 that were sold to households that had someone with a permanent disability.Movin’ Out played a similar role in the Partnership’s Sun Prairie subdivision project, The Uplands, as well as in Oak Glen, the Partnership's condominium development within Habitat for Humanity's Twin Oaks subdivision.

Most recently, the Partnership assisted Movin' Out in absorbing the rental housing activities of the Wisconsin Initiative for Sustainable Housing (WISH). We also helped design a comprehensive system for managing rental program activities and creating additional rental housing opportunities for people with disabilities. To visit Movin’ Out’s website, click here.