02 - February 27, 2025 - Assistance for Intellectually Developmentally Disabled (IDD) Individuals and Households
CITY COUNCIL INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM
Date: February 27, 2025
To: Cupertino City Council
From: Nicky Vu, Senior Housing Coordinator
Benjamin Fu, Director of Community Development
CC: Pamela Wu, City Manager
Floy Andrews, Interim City Attorney
Re: Assistance for Intellectually/Developmentally Disabled (IDD) Individuals
and Households
Background
At the regularly scheduled City Council meeting on September 3, 2024, as part of
the discussions on The Mary Avenue Affordable Housing project, Vice Mayor
Moore (then City Council member Moore), requested an informational
memorandum on the amount of assistance developmentally disabled individuals
receive. The Mary Avenue Affordable Housing project currently proposes to
create 40 new affordable house units, of which, 18 of the units will be reserved for
intellectually/developmentally disabled households. Staff has provided the
following report on the types of assistance currently available to the average IDD
household in the City of Cupertino.
Staff Study
Staff has provided the following information prepared with assistance from
Housing Choices, a regional non-profit located in the Bay Area created with the
goal to increase housing opportunity and quality for individuals with intellectual
and/or developmental disabilities. The following information provided is based
on data for single-person households who live and/or work in the City of
Cupertino. In general, Housing Choices reports that a third of their Cupertino
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clients work part-time to cover their expenses, more than one-third rely on
parental support to help cover rent, and others must rely solely on assistance from
government agencies.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
The primary form of public assistance that IDD households receive is SSI, a federal
program within the range of benefits that exist within Social Security. SSI is
specifically aimed towards providing assistance to households that have little or
no income, little or no resources, and a disability. Housing Choices reports that
they have over 70 clients within the City of Cupertino which receive SSI, and that
the average amount of assistance that a single person household receives in SSI is
approximately $967 per month or $11,604 per year.
California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs)
In addition to SSI, IDD households may also receive assistance from the California
State equivalent program, known as CalWORKs. Distributed through the
California State Department of Social Services, CalWORKs is a benefit given to
families based on the number of household members which have special needs
and the income of the household. Additional factors that may affect the formula
include if a parental figure is either deceased or absent or if the principal earners
of the household are unemployed. Housing Choices reports that the average single
person household recipient of CalWORKs receives $630 per month or $7,560 per
year.
Section 8 Voucher
Section 8 refers to the federally funded rental assistance program which contains
two sub-programs: the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) and the Project Based
Voucher (PBV). The HCV program agrees to pay a portion of housing costs for the
recipient at the rental unit of their choice. This allows the recipient more flexibility
for finding housing, however, for IDD households, it puts the burden of finding
accessible housing on them, for which stock in the market is very limited. The PBV
program restricts specific units at rental properties for low-income families, for
which they can prioritize accessible units for households with special needs.
However, this program depends on having developers who wish to participate in
the program. To date, no projects have utilized Section 8 project-based vouchers
in the City of Cupertino. Therefore, Section 8 Vouchers should not be considered
as a widely available benefit for IDD households in the City of Cupertino.
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Familial Assistance
Overall, many IDD individuals are reliant on financial assistance provided from
their family. Housing Choices reports that they service approximately 30 large
households in Cupertino, in which other working family members will
supplement income for IDD individuals. For single-person households, family
members will contribute through a Cal -Able account, a state program through the
California Treasurer’s Office, through which other family members can provide
money for disability-related expenses, which the IDD individual can withdraw
without incurring taxes. While familial assistance is immediate and impactful,
Housing Choices notes that many of their clients have concerns about self-
sustainability, in particular the households where those providing assistance are
aging parents who need a plan for how the IDD individual will be able to support
themselves in the future.