Tri-Valley Opportunity Council, Inc.

Bridges Rental Assistance Program

Temporary rent and service support for persons with mental illness while they are on waiting lists for Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers or other permanent programs.

Description

Helps people with mental illness avoid homelessness by providing them with temporary rental assistance in their community. This allows people to have housing while they are on a waiting list for Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers or other permanent housing subsidy programs. Housing support services are provided to participants through a local mental health authority.

Subsidies are determined by a calculation using gross income. The resident's rent is based on the resident's income.

Funding from the program may be used:

• To pay rent directly to a landlord
• For security and utility deposits
• To pay for the full rent, for up to 90 days, during medical or psychiatric crisis

Features

• Area Served by County
  • Kittson County
  • Mahnomen County
  • Marshall County
  • Norman County
  • Pennington County
  • Polk County
  • Red Lake County
  • Roseau County

• Organization Type
  • Community Action Partnership

• Specialization
  • Mental health
  • People with low income

Eligibility

Recipients must:

• Be 18 years of age or over
• Have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness as defined in the MN Comprehensive Mental Health Act
• Have a household income at or below 50 percent of the area median income

Since the program will serve as a transition to a permanent subsidy, program recipients and organizations providing housing will need to follow rules for:

• Provision of income verification
• Leasing procedures
• Federal housing quality standards
• Payment standards limits to cap program rents

Highest priority is given to people residing in an institution (such as a hospital, treatment center, correctional facility, adult foster care or other segregated setting) who will be homeless upon discharge.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Bridges serves Marshall, Norman, Polk, Kittson, Mahnomen, Pennington, Red Lake and Roseau counties

Application Instructions

Referral to the program must be made by a mental health professional. The program is administered to participants by the local housing agency in communities where eligible applicants live. This program may be full or may have a waiting list.