What are NED vouchers?
NED HCVs enable non-elderly disabled families to lease affordable private housing of their choice. NED vouchers also assist persons with disabilities who often face difficulties in locating suitable and accessible housing on the private market.

What organizations are eligible to apply for NED voucher funding from HUD?
Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) authorized under state law to develop or operate housing assistance programs may apply.

How do PHAs apply for voucher funding from HUD?
When new funding becomes available to HUD through congressional budget appropriations, PHAs respond to notices of funding availability (NOFAs) published in the Federal Register. Each NOFA identifies the funding allocation and the number of vouchers available, the minimum application requirements (threshold factors) and, if applicable, the selection criteria for rating and ranking applications.

What families are eligible to apply for NED vouchers?
Only income eligible families whose head of household, spouse or co-head is non-elderly (under age 62) and disabled may receive a NED voucher. Families with only a minor child with a disability are not eligible. Applicants will be selected from the PHA's HCV waiting list. Category 2 vouchers have additional eligibility requirements.

How does a PHA determine if a family is income eligible for the NED vouchers?
In general, the family's income may not exceed 50% of the median income for the county or metropolitan area in which the family chooses to live. By law, a PHA must provide 75 percent of its voucher to applicants whose incomes do not exceed 30 percent of the area median income. Median income levels are published by HUD and vary by location. The PHA serving your community can provide you with the income limits for your area and family size.

How do families obtain NED vouchers?
Families may apply to any PHA that administers a voucher program and has an open waiting list.  When an eligible NED family comes to the top of the PHA’s HCV waiting list and a voucher becomes available, the PHA issues a voucher to the family. The voucher may be a specific NED voucher or a regular voucher. NED PHAs (MS-Excel) provides a list of PHAs that have received special funding for NED vouchers.

How do families obtain a unit once they have a voucher?
It is the responsibility of a family to find a unit that meets its needs. However, PHAs are responsible for providing families that include a person with disabilities with a current listing of accessible units known to the PHA that may be available. If the family finds a unit that meets the housing quality standards, the rent is reasonable, and the unit meets other program requirements, the PHA approves the unit, a lease is executed between the family and the owner and then the PHA executes a HAP contract with the owner. This contract authorizes the PHA to make subsidy payments on behalf of the family. If the family moves out of the unit with approval of the PHA and it has complied with all program requirements, the contract with the owner ends and the family can move with continued assistance to another unit.

How much rent do vouchers cover?
The PHA generally pays the owner the difference between the PHA determined payment standard for the family size and the family’s total tenant payment. The family may choose a unit with a higher gross rent than the payment standard and pay the owner the difference, but upon initial occupancy the family’s share is capped at 40 percent of the family’s monthly adjusted income.

Do families have to lease a unit in the jurisdiction where the PHA issued the voucher?
No. A family may choose a unit anywhere in the United States where there is a PHA that administers a tenant based voucher program and the family is income eligible at admission to the program. However, applicants to a PHA’s HCV program who did not live in the jurisdiction of the PHA when they applied may be required to lease a unit within the PHA’s jurisdiction and remain living there for the first 12 months before being allowed rights to portability.

What regulations cover NED vouchers?
The same regulations that cover regular vouchers also cover NED vouchers. These regulations are found in 24 CFR Part 982. The only difference with NED vouchers is the population that must be served.

What happens to NED vouchers upon turnover?

When NED families exit the program and their NED vouchers turnover, the PHA must reissue those vouchers to other eligible non-elderly disabled families on the PHA’s waiting list.