Money Follows the Person Program Helps Disabled Kentucky Woman Live Independently
Kentucky Transitions partners with Madisonville Housing Authority for affordable housing

From Left, Debra Sartain, Madisonville Section 8 Housing Quality Standards, Ms. Poindexter, Elizabeth Patterson, Madisonville Section 8 Coordinator.

After 5 long years living in a nursing home facility, Ms. Vernon Poindexter had little hope of living on her own again. Then Ms. Poindexter learned of a program that allows her to use her Medicaid payments for medical supportive services outside of an institutional setting. It was then she began her quest to live on her own in an apartment by way of The Money Follows the Person Program, also known as Kentucky Transitions.

Lora Henderson of Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC) coordinates Kentucky Transitions, which is based upon a HUD/Health and Human Services partnership. This partnership offers both housing and supportive medical services to very-low-income elderly and non-elderly disabled persons receiving Medicaid assistance in nursing homes, hospitals or other institutions. This allows them to transition into independent community-based settings.

Ms. Henderson knew that Ms. Poindexter could qualify for the program if they could simply find her rent-assisted housing. So after applying for and receiving a HUD Housing Choice Voucher, they searched for a handicap accessible unit that would accommodate her wheelchair. They found one at the Madisonville Housing Authority and Ms. Poindexter transitioned into the apartment in February 2012. Ms. Poindexter is now flourishing and enjoying life outside of a nursing home. She was quick to point out that she would have been in the nursing home for nearly 7 years had it not been for this wonderful program that allowed her to move out into the community.

Kentucky Transitions has known tremendous success through its partnership with the HUD Louisville Field Office. HUD initiated outreach and educational opportunities with affordable housing providers throughout the Commonwealth on how they could assist disabled persons to move from institutional settings into their own apartments. Outreach included privately-owned multifamily owners, public housing authorities, Housing Choice Voucher agencies, and local governments. Kentucky's housing partners enthusiastically rose to the challenge by directly partnering with Kentucky Transitions to link their affordable housing with supportive services for this vulnerable population.

To find out more about Kentucky Transitions, please visit the KHC website (http://www.kyhousing.org/page.aspx?id=336) or contact KHC's Lora Henderson at (502) 564-7630, extension 391.

###