Establishes the housing opportunities for people to empower excellence and equity (HOPE) trust fund to provide access to rental housing; to facilitate the construction, renovation and rehabilitation of facilities to provide additional residential opportunities; to develop new and innovative approaches to residential living and to promote creation of sustainable living environments for people with developmental disabilities.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
872--B
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 5, 2017
___________
Introduced by Sen. ORTT -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Mental Health and Develop-
mental Disabilities -- recommitted to the Committee on Mental Health
and Developmental Disabilities in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec.
8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended
and recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee
AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law and the state finance law, in
relation to the housing opportunities for people to empower excellence
and equity trust fund
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings. Many adults with intellectual or
2 developmental disabilities have lived at home with family their entire
3 lives, which has resulted in substantial savings for the state of New
4 York over many years. In a growing number of cases, however, these indi-
5 viduals now live with aging family caregivers who can no longer effec-
6 tively provide care due to their own age related disabilities and these
7 individuals and their families remain on waiting lists for years at a
8 time, awaiting the opportunity to access an appropriate residential
9 opportunity. The legislature therefore finds that it is incumbent upon
10 the state of New York to address the needs of these aging caregivers and
11 their loved ones by identifying a source of funding to assist in meeting
12 the residential needs of these individuals.
13 § 2. The mental hygiene law is amended by adding a new section 41.58
14 to read as follows:
15 § 41.58 The housing opportunities for people to empower excellence and
16 equity trust fund.
17 (a) The housing opportunities for people to empower excellence and
18 equity, hereinafter referred to as the HOPE trust fund, established
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04619-03-8
S. 872--B 2
1 pursuant to section ninety-nine-bb of the state finance law, shall be
2 administered and overseen in accordance with these provisions with the
3 purpose of providing access to rental housing for persons with develop-
4 mental disabilities; to facilitate the construction, renovation and
5 rehabilitation of facilities to provide additional residential opportu-
6 nities for people with developmental disabilities; to develop new and
7 innovative approaches to residential living which bring people into the
8 community consistent with the goal of full integration of persons with
9 disabilities and to promote creation of sustainable living environments
10 through home modifications, payment assistance options and home repairs.
11 The trust fund would be administered by the office of people with devel-
12 opmental disabilities, in consultation with the department of health, to
13 provide a mechanism to identify and prioritize need, by region, and work
14 with other state agencies, local government units, and other interested
15 persons, including people with intellectual or developmental disabili-
16 ties, parents or guardians or such persons, advocates for such persons
17 and service providers in prioritizing and planning for the satisfaction
18 of the identified needs.
19 (b) The funding from the trust fund shall be used for state-operated
20 and not-for-profit operated housing and other non-medicaid funded
21 supports to insure that the identified priority needs can be met, in
22 consultation with the commissioner of health, the commissioner of the
23 office for people with developmental disabilities shall allocate the
24 funds, by region, in order to implement the HOPE trust fund plan each
25 year. Funds would be transferred from the fund to support the above
26 purposes, as may be directed by the commissioner of the office for
27 people with developmental disabilities.
28 (c) An annual plan for the use of the HOPE trust fund would be devel-
29 oped and approved by the HOPE trust fund board composed of the commis-
30 sioner of the office for people with developmental disabilities, who
31 will serve as chair, and twelve members of the public appointed by the
32 governor, of whom two shall be upon the recommendation of the speaker of
33 the assembly, two shall be upon the recommendation of the temporary
34 president of the senate, one shall be upon the recommendation of the
35 minority leader of the state assembly and one shall be upon the recom-
36 mendation of the minority leader of the state senate. The commissioners
37 of health and of housing and community renewal, the director of the
38 division of the budget and the chief executive officers of the dormitory
39 authority of the state of the New York and of the state of New York
40 mortgage agency shall serve as ex officio members of the board. Member-
41 ship of the board shall include self-advocates, parents, guardians and
42 family members of persons with developmental disabilities, advocates and
43 others with expertise in the provision of residential services.
44 (d) In developing a plan for the disbursement of funds from the HOPE
45 trust fund, the board shall:
46 (i) Determine eligibility requirements for those individuals with
47 developmental disabilities who are provided services through the fund
48 and who are defined pursuant to subdivision twenty-two of section 1.03
49 of this chapter. In establishing eligibility, the board shall consider
50 the length of time the individual has been waiting for residential
51 services, the ability of family caregivers to continue to provide care,
52 and the extent of an individual's needs. Individuals who, in accordance
53 with the residential opportunities protocol established by the office
54 for people with developmental disabilities, have been determined to be
55 either priority one (requiring emergency placement due to abusive or
56 neglectful situation, facing imminent danger to self or others or at
S. 872--B 3
1 risk of homelessness, among other factors) or priority two (requiring
2 urgent or emergency prevention placement, as a result of aging or fail-
3 ing health of caregivers, risk of neglect or abuse, or the individual's
4 medical or physical condition, among other factors) shall be eligible
5 for the support of the trust fund.
6 (ii) Establish audit protocols for non-profit organizations licensed
7 pursuant to this chapter to assure that any monies spent from the HOPE
8 trust fund are appropriately expended consistent with the provisions of
9 this section.
10 (iii) Establish funding levels for state-operated and not-for-profit
11 operated programs providing services under this section. However, state-
12 operated programs shall receive a minimum of fifty percent of funding
13 available in this fund.
14 (iv) Prepare an annual progress report on the status of persons wait-
15 ing for services, the number of individuals served through the HOPE
16 trust fund, the settings such persons are served in and the extent of
17 federal financial participation in the fund.
18 (e) In order to receive monies provided by the fund, an authorized
19 provider of waiver services to persons with developmental disabilities
20 must enter into a contract with the office for people with developmental
21 disabilities. Approval of such contract shall require such provider to
22 agree to terms and conditions including:
23 (i) A description of the manner in which operating expenses of the
24 project shall be met, including the usage of available federal funding,
25 as appropriate, including, but not limited, to supplemental security
26 income and supplemental nutritional assistance program benefits;
27 (ii) a description of the services and supports which shall be
28 provided to eligible persons with developmental disabilities served by
29 the fund;
30 (iii) a description of the manner in which the project will provide
31 person centered services to the eligible individual;
32 (iv) the type of facility proposed; and
33 (v) such other terms and conditions as may be required by such office.
34 (f) The board may authorize expenditures from the HOPE trust fund for
35 expenses that it deems appropriate to develop person centered residen-
36 tial services for eligible individuals with developmental disabilities.
37 Such expenses may include:
38 (i) technical assistance for general project development and opera-
39 tion;
40 (ii) necessary legal, architectural, financial and other consulting
41 services;
42 (iii) the cost of renovation, construction and rehabilitation for
43 residential projects authorized pursuant to this section; and
44 (iv) funding for rental assistance and housing subsidies along with
45 rental security assistance.
46 (g) The office for people with developmental disabilities is hereby
47 directed to authorize and fund any necessary home and community based
48 medicaid waiver services for individuals placed into projects completed
49 pursuant to this section.
50 § 3. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 99-bb to
51 read as follows:
52 § 99-bb. Housing opportunities for people to empower excellence and
53 equity trust fund. 1. There is hereby established in the joint custody
54 of the state comptroller and the commissioner of taxation and finance a
55 fund to be known as the "HOPE trust fund".
S. 872--B 4
1 2. The fund shall consist of all monies appropriated for its purpose,
2 all monies required by this section or any other provision of law to be
3 paid into or credited to such fund, and no less than five hundred
4 million dollars collected by the state in settlements from banking
5 institutions or other financial services organizations. Nothing
6 contained herein shall prevent the department of health or the office
7 for people with developmental disabilities from receiving grants, gifts
8 or bequests for the purposes of the fund as defined in this section and
9 in section 41.58 of the mental hygiene law and depositing them into the
10 fund according to law.
11 3. Monies of the fund, when allocated, shall be available for adminis-
12 trative costs of the HOPE trust fund board established pursuant to
13 section 41.58 of the mental hygiene law and for funding the costs of
14 providing housing and residential supports to persons with developmental
15 disabilities in accordance with such section that are not otherwise
16 reimbursed by the medical assistance or other programs, as administered
17 and authorized by such board.
18 4. Monies shall be payable from the fund on the audit and warrant of
19 the state comptroller on vouchers approved and certified by the commis-
20 sioner of the office for people with developmental disabilities.
21 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.