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Supporters urge codifying and expanding Alternative Housing Voucher Program for people with disabilities
Summary
Sen. Kennedy and disability advocates asked the committee to pass S.1004 to formalize and strengthen the Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP), allowing project‑based vouchers, aligning standards with MRVP and Section 8, raising age caps, and improving administration.
Senator Robin Kennedy and disability advocates told the Joint Committee on Housing that Senate Bill 1004 would modernize and strengthen the Alternative Housing Voucher Program (AHVP) to better serve non‑elderly adults with disabilities.
Sponsor remarks and program purpose: Senator Kennedy said S.1004 would codify recent budgetary changes to allow project‑based vouchers in AHVP and align the program more closely with the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP) and federal Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) standards. He said the goal is to expand affordable, accessible, integrated housing options for disabled adults who rely on fixed incomes.
Advocate testimony and lived experience: Benji Kemper (Center for Living and Working) and representatives from disability organizations described cases where people with mobility impairments struggle to find accessible affordable units. Kemper recounted clients who lived in nursing homes or rented inaccessible units because accessible rentals were unavailable; he said creating project‑based vouchers through AHVP could add accessible units to the housing stock. Destiny Maxim, an AHVP recipient, described how the voucher gave her stability after years in institutional settings and urged codification and improvements to make the program more accessible for others.
Program scale and gaps: Witnesses said AHVP currently supports approximately 512 vouchers statewide (as testified), MRVP supports about 3,600 households and federal Section 8 serves roughly 69,000 households in Massachusetts (figures provided by witnesses). Witnesses also cited a Worcester Housing Authority estimate that the wait list for a non‑elderly accessible unit could be on the order of decades (one witness reported a 30‑year wait estimate shared by a local housing authority official).
Requests: Supporters asked the committee to report S.1004 favorably and to codify program improvements in statute so that project‑based vouchers, clearer eligibility definitions and administrative alignments are permanent.
Limits: The hearing included personal testimony and administrative descriptions; the bill was presented as a statutory fix and no committee vote was recorded during the session.
