From our friends at PHI.

President Barack Obama has launched "The Year of Community Living," an effort to assist Americans with disabilities, instructing HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan to "work together to identify ways to improve access to housing, community supports, and independent living arrangements."

The announcement was made on the tenth anniversary of the Olmstead case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the unjustified institutional isolation of people with disabilities is a form of unlawful discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

An announcement from Sebelius issued the same day indicated that she was taking various actions at HHS in support of the new initiative, including the creation of a new HHS Coordinating Council "to put in place solutions that address barriers to community living for individuals with disabilities and to give people more control over their lives and the supports they need."

She also said she would direct additional funding toward the HHS Aging and Disability Resource Center Programs (ADRCs), which are a collaborative effort of the Administration on Aging (AoA) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and intended to provide a "one-stop shop for consumers for long-term care information, assistance, and access to services."

HUD announced, in turn, that it was making available $30 million in voucher assistance to provide housing support for 4,000 non-elderly disabled families, including 1,000 vouchers that are targeted specifically at people who are transitioning out of nursing homes and other institutions. Notably, these 1,000 vouchers directly satisfy an ongoing demand from ADAPT.

Article from http://phinational.org/archives/obama-effort-to-assist-americans-with-disabilities/