Leading Edge Resources: A Home of My Own

The National Home of Your Own Alliance (http://www.alliance.unh.edu/nhoyo.html) developed to promote opportunities for people with disabilities to own and control their homes. This does not include three, four, or five people purchasing a home together; an individual living in a home owned by another person or family who is considered the "home provider"; and two people who are not in a long term committed relationship that purchase a home together.

The Alliance created A Home of Your Own Guide that walks people through the steps to home ownership and identifies resources  that can help. The guide introduces a "person centered approach" to homeownership, which places people with disabilities at the center of the decision-making process on issues affecting their personal lives and living situations. The Guide has been updated in cooperation with Fannie Mae.  (http://www.alliance.unh.edu/aauntitled.folder.1/TC.html)

The work of the Alliance continues through The Center for Housing and New Community Economics (CHANCE) established in March of 2001. (http://chance.unh.edu/)

Housing Cooperatives. Another way that people have developed homes of their own, along with the support of neighbors, is through housing cooperatives.

Co-ops offer a community-focused housing model centered on its residents, involving them throughout the design phase, the construction period, and after occupancy in the management process. Families that need affordable housing can find attractive and reasonably-priced options… People with disabilities often find an informal, unpaid support network and accessible housing

For instance, Co-op Initiatives, Inc. (Hartford CT) works with people with disabilities to create homes of their own as alternatives to institutional and other settings. Their housing models offer a wide range of options to people with disabilities, including homeownership, affordable rental housing and limited equity cooperatives. By building housing that incorporates the diversity of our society, we build neighborhoods that are truly communities.