Section 8 Study

Summary: In collaboration with the state Bureau of Community Mental Health, the Partnership surveyed Wisconsin housing authorities and tabulated access to and use of public housing and Section 8 housing subsidies by people with disabilities.

Wisconsin Partnership's role: Consultant

Staff contact: Dave Porterfield

Status of work: Completed in 1999

Since the 1980s, the disability community has stressed that people with disabilities much prefer to live in housing of their choice within the larger community rather than in group homes or institutional settings. But as the demand for community-based housing affordable to people with disabilities has grown, the supply of such housing has sharply decreased. Due in part to changes in federal regulations for public housing, people with disabilities now can be, and are being, shut out of affordable housing opportunities across the country.

In 1998 the Partnership, in collaboration with the Bureau of Community Mental Health (BCMH) in the state Department of Health and Family Services, and with additional financial support from the Wisconsin Council on Developmental Disabilities, began to collect data on the access to and use of public housing and Section 8 housing subsidies by people with disabilities in Wisconsin. The study had three goals: (1) to gain a better understanding of where public housing and Section 8 resources were available to people with disabilities; (2) to help BCMH focus its efforts on areas of the state where the housing crisis was most severe; and (3) to foster communication and cooperation between human services and housing agencies.

The Partnership and BCMH completed their analysis of the data and prepared the report during 1999. To receive a copy of the report, call or email Sue Fieber (608-258-5560 x22; suefieber@wphd.org).