One of the most frustrating issues facing the disabled is the lack of INCLUSION. Whether it be housing (some of us still wonder how this never managed to be part of Americans with Disabilities Act, since structural compliance is part of ADA for commercial and public access; somehow people must have thought that “surely regular housing will fall in line”, right?) And housing skipped that assumption altogether. There was a small action back in the 1990s that was supposed to demand that 5% of the new housing builds had to be disabled accessible, that now goes for major premium dollars being “garden apartments” for the elder rich enticing them to rent, what should be affordable for the elderly on SSI and the disabled on SSI/SSDI.
This has not been lost on ARC who is trying to lobby hard found here:
“For people with disabilities, there are far too many barriers to housing. Without affordable, accessible housing in the community, many are at risk of institutionalization or homelessness.
Across the nation, many people with disabilities are experiencing an affordabilitycrisis. Approximately 4.8 million non-institutionalized people with disabilities who rely on federal monthly Supplemental Security Income (SSI) have incomes averaging only about $9,156 per year – low enough to be priced out of every rental housing market in the nation.
Many people with I/DD live with aging caregivers (age 60 and older). As this generation of caregivers continues to age, many of their adult children with I/DD may be at risk of institutionalization or homelessness.
An accessible home offers specific features or technologies such as lowered kitchen counters and sinks, widened doorways, and wheel-in showers. For people who use mobility devices, finding housing with even basic accessibility features (e.g. an entrance with no steps) can be daunting, if not entirely impossible or unaffordable.
The availability of affordable, accessible housing remains far less than the need, leaving far too many people with I/DD institutionalized, homeless, or in “worst case” housing (paying too much in rent to afford other basics or living in severely inadequate conditions).
The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, and national origin. Complaints by people with disabilities often make up the majority of discrimination complaints received by HUD’s Fair Housing Enforcement Office and other fair housing agencies.” The full address found here: thearc.org/…
REDLINING and OTHER DISCRIMINATIONS
Redlining is what is currently being done in pushing the disabled or elderly out of housing that now is going for “premium” costs. In mobile home communities this act is happening because they know they can get mobiles sold “short” by the owners of the parks, either through auctions of abandoned homes, or by coercion (constant threats, psychological intimidation and uneven application of lease agreements). Mobile home parks are notorious for their lack of application of Fair Housing statutes and “swim at your own risk” situation.
Honestly, when it comes to application of laws regarding housing nationwide, it is not uniform (even fair housing is not uniformly applied in some states as a agency), but further are two Federal acts that simply are “arbitrary” to a states agreement to apply: Namely the Olmstead Act and the MiCASA act that were designed to dovetail together for “fair at home care” and not bankrupting the elderly or disabled in the process of either care or need for housing later in life. Well, most states operate these two acts as “arbitrary” or simply ignorant to the fact that Medicare/Medicaid has provisions to take care of our financial woes, because we typically fall 250% below the poverty limits.
This blatant ignorance of our needs not only leaves us invisible to the housing world, but leaves us invisible to the government that was so willing to give us Equal Access under law
On July 12, 1990, the House of Representatives passed the Americans with Disabilities Act on a vote of 377-28 with 27 members not voting. The next day, the Senate passed the bill on a vote of 91-6 with 3 members not voting.
The Americans with Disabilities Act became the law of the land on July 26, 1990. Not overwhelmingly agreed, but by a good margin. acl.gov/…
When the COVID 19 Pandemic hit, our population wasn't even mentioned, not even as a footnote. DREDF that wrote ADA had to spring into action (I was in the teleconference back in April, 2020) demanding to know; “if the disabled were considered part of phase 1 inoculations or not, since we were not even discussed as a population.” And now again with the infrastructure act being implemented , our population again is not mentioned, and frankly most of the statistics on homelessness outside of ARC fail to mention “there is a disabled faction to homelessness”, or that there is a severe lack of housing in general for our population.
The only mention of the disabled, if any, regarding COVID-19 Concerns or Variants is mentioning Assistive living and nursing facilities. AS IF ALL DISABLED ALIVE LIVE IN ASSISTIVE LIVING, or NURSING FACILITIES (read: warehousing). What this means is while our president is trying to get everyone vaccinated, there is an absolute gap when it comes to in home workers and their population. There is an ignorant factor that in home care workers bounce from home to home, may or not be spreading COVID (or DELTA) to us at an alarming rate. We don’t necessarily have the luxury to NOT have in home care. It isn’t a matter of convenience for us or an “extra”, it is pure and simple the right to eat; the right to a clean and safe home as well as the right to life. There is a conjecture that our parents, family or friends will do all the work, and this is rarely the case; worse that we will “marry well, and our spouse will take care of us.” So once again, we are left dangling on the line of protections, housing as well as other needs.
Further is assumption that our HUD housing is federal so is transferable to any state automatically when trying to find housing; it’s not. It still requires a friend or family who will front you a place to live to have a local address to actually reapply for HUD in the area. And most HUD locations has serious long waiting lists over 10 years even when you are approved for a voucher, certificate, 202 PRAC, or 811 Disabled housing: thereby guaranteeing that any jump you may need to take will leave you homeless.
Disabilities Is a Minority That Anyone at Any Time can become a Member of
There is no guarantee that at any point in anyone’s lives they may not be placed into a chair, use a walking frame, or using a cane for stability. It is certain that when someone reaches the elderly phase in life (and due to no fault of their own either because of catastrophic cost of health care, etc) will end up needing help in the home, or will need to move to affordable accessible apartments. In either case, you may be in need of a home you can live in or care in your home; with the possible risk by someone who refuses to vaccinate or is inadvertently spreading serious life threatening illness to you from other’s they are caring for.
It is hard to be disabled. There is no doubt about that. Thinking that “someone else” is taking care of our problems has lead us here to basically having “no where to go” and invisibility by our government to even address our needs.
This is why disability needs to be readdressed, why we need INCLUSION in our government (and in office) I should remind people that Marca Bristo did have an office and title in the White House under Clinton’s administration as a cabinet member: there was a need and there still remains a need for us to be included in our government.