Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities

How It Works

Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities helps adults with significant, long-term disabilities live in the community rather than in institutions. It provides affordable housing linked to voluntary services. The law requires that services be offered, and residents may choose not to use them.

Two components currently receive new funding:

• Capital Advance/PRAC. HUD gives an interest-free capital advance to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to build, buy or rehabilitate housing. The advance does not have to be repaid as long as the housing serves very low-income people with disabilities for at least 40 years. A Project Rental Assistance Contract (PRAC) then covers operating costs that residents’ rents do not.
• Project Rental Assistance (PRA). Created by a law signed in January 2011, PRA gives rental assistance to state housing agencies, usually the state housing finance agency. The agency places it in apartment buildings financed by other sources, such as tax credits or HOME funds. PRA cannot pay for construction. The state’s health and human services agency and its Medicaid agency must sign agreements covering whom to serve, how to refer tenants and how services will be provided. Assisted units must serve people with disabilities for at least 30 years.

In PRA buildings, no more than 25% of units may be set aside for people with disabilities. The same cap applies to multifamily projects that receive capital advances made after the 2011 law, though not to group homes or independent living facilities. The goal is integrated housing, where people with disabilities live alongside other tenants.

The law also authorizes tenant-based rental assistance, known as Section 811 Mainstream vouchers, which public housing agencies administer as Housing Choice Vouchers. See the Housing Choice Voucher Program.

Who It Serves

Section 811 serves households with at least one adult aged 18 to 61 who has a disability that is expected to be long-lasting and substantially limits independent living. Capital advance housing serves very low-income households. PRA units are limited to extremely low-income households.

Residents generally pay 30% of adjusted monthly income, or 10% of gross monthly income if that is higher. Many rely on Supplemental Security Income (SSI). NLIHC’s guide, citing the Technical Assistance Collaborative, notes that SSI equals only about 20% of area median income, too little to afford housing in the community without assistance.

How to Access It

For a Capital Advance/PRAC property, apply to the property’s management office and join its waiting list. PRA units are usually filled through referrals from state agencies or their partner service providers, so contact your state housing finance agency or disability services agency.

Nonprofits compete for capital advances, and states compete for PRA, when HUD publishes funding notices. In October 2023, HUD offered $212 million, split evenly between the two components. In August 2024, it announced nearly $140 million in PRA grants to 18 state housing agencies. NLIHC’s 2026 guide reported that awards under the October 2023 Capital Advance notice had not yet been announced.

History

Before 1990, housing for people with disabilities was part of Section 202. A 1978 law required that, beginning in FY1979, at least $50 million of Section 202 loan funds go to housing for non-elderly people with disabilities. The Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 created Section 811 as a separate program. NLIHC dates its start to 1992.

Early projects were mostly group homes and small independent living facilities. Disability policy later shifted toward integrated, community-based housing, reinforced by court rulings interpreting the Americans with Disabilities Act. NLIHC reports that by 2007 the program was producing fewer than 1,000 new units a year. The Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2010, signed in January 2011, created PRA and refocused the program on integration.

Limitations

• Small scale. HUD estimates about 31,600 Capital Advance/PRAC units, and existing PRA funding is expected to produce about 12,000 units, both as reported in NLIHC’s 2026 guide. Congress provided $287 million for Section 811 in FY2026, up from $257 million in FY2025, according to CRS.
• Gaps between new rounds. HUD issued no Capital Advance funding notice between 2010 and 2019.
• Services depend on other systems. Section 811 mainly pays for housing, not care. Residents generally rely on Medicaid and state programs for services.
• Preservation questions. Congress allowed Section 811 PRAC properties to convert under the Rental Assistance Demonstration starting in FY2022. HUD’s June 2025 notice lists them among the covered programs, but NLIHC’s 2026 guide reported that HUD had not yet issued final implementation guidance.

See Homelessness, Housing First and Supportive Housing for how supportive housing fits with other approaches.