Rochester, New York: Olmstead Housing Subsidy

Olmstead Housing Subsidy

In the state of New York, people with disabilities have been assisted in transitioning out of nursing homes using a rental subsidy program called the Olmstead Housing Subsidy (OHS). OHS is funded by the New York State Department of Health Medicaid Redesign Team and administered by the New York Association on Independent Living.

When a person living in a nursing home who qualifies for OHS is identified, a staff member from a local center for independent living is assigned to assist them in locating suitable housing in the community. People using this subsidy are free to move into any housing unit that meets the requirements of the program. They pay up to 30 percent of their income for rent and the subsidy covers the rest.

OHS also allocates up to $5000 per person to cover other costs associated with moving out, such as paying a deposit and purchasing furniture.

Between August 2016 and June 2019, OHS assisted 384 New Yorkers in transitioning out of nursing facilities.

How the OHS subsidy has helped Julie

Julie works as a transition specialist for the Center for Disability Rights (CDR), a Center for Independent Living in Rochester, New York. Her job is to help people with disabilities get out of nursing facilities. “I go see people and I tell them don’t give up hope. I tell them we can figure it out. Get a plan in your head. It might not work out but that’s okay. We’ll try again.”

Julie knows how it is. In 2013, she found herself in a nursing home, very unexpectedly. It all began in 2012. For months she was throwing up and losing weight and after several doctor’s appointments she received no definitive diagnosis. It was finally determined that she had cancer. After receiving treatments, she entered a nursing home in 2013 for short term rehabilitation. She then returned to the house where she lived with her aunt.

But in 2016 another cancer-related medical emergency rendered her unconscious. “When I woke up, I didn’t have a right leg above the knee.”

Because of the amputation, Julie now needed a wheelchair for mobility, which made her aunt’s house inaccessible. So she re-entered the nursing home but this time she had no exit strategy.

Fortunately, a staff member from CDR came to the nursing home and assisted Julie in moving out. Julie says all she needed was someone to fund and build a ramp on her aunt’s house. She also needed a shower chair.

CDR connected her with public funding resources to make that happen. So Julie moved out of the nursing home within two months. And now she helps others do the same.

Julie doesn’t live with her aunt anymore. In 2018 she married a man with whom she works and moved in with him. She still lives with cancer and probably always will, but she loves where she is and what she’s doing. “I never thought I’d be where I am. I never thought I’d be married. I never thought anybody would love me because I didn’t love myself.”

How the OHS subsidy has helped Kiesha

“It came out of nowhere!” says Kiesha, who lives in Rochester, New York.

In June 2016, she just left her job as a customer service representative for Xerox. She was hospitalized for what turned out to be a blood clot in her leg. That resulted in amputation. When she was ready to be discharged from the hospital in July, her apartment was no longer accessible to her because she now used a wheelchair.

"It really tore me up because I was always independent,“ she says.

With no income or place to live, she ended up in a nursing home. She hoped she would only be there for a few weeks, but weeks turned into months.

Kiesha says, "I almost became institutionalized. I was feeling sorry for myself and going along with the rules. Curfews. You have to be in at a certain time. You have to take your meds at a certain time. I don't do well with schedules. I move slowly. I like to move at my own pace.” She was restless to get out but she didn’t see a path for getting out. She felt trapped. But then a fellow nursing home resident told her other people got out with the assistance of the Center for Disability Rights (CDR), the Center for Independent Living in Rochester.

So Kiesha contacted CDR and a staff member navigated her through the process of transitioning back into the community, including finding the accessible, one-bedroom apartment where she lives today. OHS funds were used to purchase her furniture, pay her deposits, etc.

Kiesha moved out of the nursing facility on December 1, 2017. “I was excited, but it was stressful because I didn't know if it would work out like I wanted it to. Two weeks before I left, I was packed and ready to go. I threw stuff away; I gave stuff away. I said my good-byes.” She says she is “eighty percent back to my same self.” She’s confident she’ll be 100 percent soon.

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