Section 811 Bill Passes House, Is Introduced in Senate
Capitol Hill
Memo to Members: Vol 14, No. 29, July 24, 2009
The Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2009, H.R. 1675, passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 376-51 on July 22. The bill would make numerous improvements to HUD’s Section 811 Housing for Persons with Disabilities program.
The bill authorizes a new Section 811 demonstration program on community integration for people with disabilities and would improve the existing Section 811 production program by providing states and localities with a new infusion of critically needed Section 811 capital and project-based rent subsidy funding to produce more permanent supported housing.
The bill is named after Frank Melville, the co-founder and first chair of the Melville Charitable Trust, a Connecticut-based funder of organizations dedicated to ending homelessness, including NLIHC. The bill was introduced on March 23 by Representative Christopher Murphy (D-CT) (see Memo, 3/27).
An identical Senate bill was introduced by Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), S. 1481, on July 21. Senator Menendez is the Chair of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Housing and Transportation. The Senate bill is co-sponsored by Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE), who is a member of the Subcommittee.
