July 26, 2006, CMS announced the 2007 Money Follows the Person demonstration grants to states. There will be $250m available beginning January 1, 2007 and a total $1.75 billion for five years. Will your State Medicaid Office participate? Will your State use this opportunity to rebalance its Medicaid institutional versus community expenditures? The full CMS Program Announcement.

These are competitive grants. Your State must develop and submit a plan to receive a grant. This is a great opportunity for ILCs, AAAs, ARCs, AARPs to work together to use these funds to end "unnecessary institutionalization."

One item in the CMS Program Announcement awards extra points for housing. CMS recognized that "the advancement of home and community-based long term care services requires increased community housing options." It states that "CMS will reward States [extra points] that demonstrate plans to work with Housing Finance Agencies to ... identify how any housing shortages will be addressed." That means using the low-income housing tax credits and state administered HOME funds!

HUD has announced it will strongly encourage Housing Authorities (and Housing Finance Agencies) to support MFP programs by helping to create opportunities for individuals to move out of institutions. That means using Housing Vouchers, public housing units, local HOME funds, and CDBG funds.

As many of you know from NUMEROUS previous Information Bulletins I have sent out, IF a local Housing Authority and IF a State Housing Finance Agency want to use their programs to assist persons transition out of institutions, they could do it. NOW IS THE TIME to creatively work with them. In most States, your Medicaid officials and your state and local housing officials have never worked together. To obtain these extra points, they will have to jointly develop a housing component.

If any of you or if your State Medicaid agencies want assistance in thinking about and developing a housing component for a MFP Grant, please let me know and we will try to work it out. This is too important an opportunity to let it slip by. We know that for many persons in institutions "whether nursing homes or ICF-MR institutions" housing is the barrier to full integration.

Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at http://www.stevegoldada.com with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects. To contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com.