JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Division of Medicaid (DOM) along with other state agencies and partners introduced a free housing listing and locator service at a public launch ceremony Tuesday, Aug. 26, at Cade Courtyard Senior Apartments in Jackson.

The service includes a website, MSHousingSearch.org, and a full-service call center designed to offer individuals or families the opportunity to search for housing regardless of disability or financial status, and property providers, including providers of critically needed affordable, accessible and special-needs housing, a free resource to advertise their properties.

The project is spearheaded by Bridge To Independence (B2I), a grant-funded partnership involving DOM, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to help Mississippians transition from institutional care to a home or community based setting.

“MSHousingSearch.org is a free public housing locator that’s available for anyone,” said Kristi Plotner, director of B2I, who wrote the grant proposal to initiate the housing project in 2012 and secured a $300,000 federal grant awarded by the Real Choice Systems Change Grants for Community Living program. “It’s particularly helpful for people with disabilities or seniors who have difficulty locating housing units that are appropriate for them, but it can be used by anybody.”

To develop MSHousingSearch.org, B2I partnered with the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, Mississippi Home Corporation, Mississippi Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, Mississippi Association of Affordable Housing Providers and Socialserve.com, a non-profit company based in North Carolina, to help build the housing-locator website.

“It has been a wonderful partnership. Mississippi Medicaid knew they wanted to connect all of the consumers they serve with the type of housing that they need, but it’s such a huge task to find that inventory of housing,” said Sheila Roberts, director of Government Affairs for Socialserve.com. “This is not your standard listing; this is a very specialized service.”

Both Plotner and Roberts called it a successful launch with solid community involvement.

See full text of article with photos on the Mississippi Division of Medicaid website.