Since its incorporation in 1980 by parents of developmentally disabled adults who could not find housing for their adult offspring, HIP has developed 906 units of affordable housing for people with disabilities. HIP developed these units in collaboration with a number of social service providers and/or other nonprofit organizations. It transferred many of the units after completion to its nonprofit partners who continue to provide housing and services to the intended population.

HIP retained 173 units of the housing it developed in the South Bay Area and currently provides housing or shelter to 264 very low-income people with disabilities. The residents in HIP’s service enriched housing may have one of the following disabling conditions: developmental disability, AIDS/HIV, psychiatric disability or advanced age (elderly). But for the housing HIP developed, over 900 people with disabilities might be homeless, living in substandard housing or institutionalized.

HIP’s Board of Directors is now in the midst of a strategic planning process. The strategic planning process is devoted to developing new cost effective models for increasing the affordable housing opportunities in the Bay Area for this population, including without limitation, the provision of consulting services to organizations wanting to develop housing for their disabled clientele.

Based in Milpitas, California, HIP provides housing or shelter in three counties: Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Alameda. Sixteen of its nineteen sites are located in San Jose, one site is in Morgan Hill, one site is in Oakland and one site is in Watsonville. An estimated 264 people are housed at one of HIP’s 19 sites. The breakout of disabilities served is as follows: developmental disabilities (8%), people with AIDS/HIV (11%), people with psychiatric disabilities (38%) and elderly (38%).

The typical resident in one of HIP’s housing projects relies on social security as his/her sole source of income. The average tenant income is $1300/month. At this income level, HIP’s clients are priced out of the Santa Clara County housing market where the fair market rent for a studio is $1020/month. The people HIP serve simply cannot afford to rent a studio in Santa Clara County much less pay for other necessities like heat, food, clothing and medical care.

Approximately 30% of the homeless population are people with some kind of disability. With the stress accompanying a loss of housing, a person with a disability often loses whatever gains s/he made while his/her housing was stable. The stress can aggravate the medical or physical condition to the point that hospitalization is necessary.

By offering housing at rates below the open market, HIP offers low-income people with disabilities housing opportunities which are not otherwise available to individuals with such limited means. In addition to having affordable housing, HIP residents have access to an array of social services to support them living independently in the community. Tailored to meet each individual’s needs, the services may include case management, information and referral, counseling, vocational training, and independent living skills training. HIP’s found that affordable housing, coupled with essential social services, offers people with disabilities the opportunity to live productive lives in the community.

The benefits of supportive housing are many. Incidences of acute crisis and hospitalization fall dramatically. The percentages of people who remain in supportive housing instead of falling back in to unhealthy patterns is 85% or better, for even the hardest to house populations. People who have been shuffled through a revolving door with respect to their housing are able to stop worrying about how to put a roof over their head and focus on other important matters.

While community support is needed to effectively provide supportive housing, it costs a fraction of what it takes to keep an individual in jail or in the hospital. The Corporation for Supportive Housing estimates that it costs $20 to $40/day to house a person with disabilities in supportive housing whereas it can run twice that much to keep them in the County jail and upwards of $500/day to house them in the State psychiatric hospital. Moreover, HIP’s residents pay as much as 40% of the cost to stay in a supportive housing environment whereas the cost to house someone in an institutionalized setting is borne entirely by taxpayers.