How will people moving from institutions find housing?

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Aug. 7, 2001 — The more than 3 1/2 million disabled people who get SSI (Supplemental Security Income) benefits have little chance of a home of their own, says a report out in June from the Boston-based Technical Assistance Collaborative, Inc. and the Washington, DC-based Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force. “Priced out in 2000” (online athttp://www.c-c-d.org/POin2000.html) looks at “the affordability of modest efficiency and one-bedroom housing units for people with disabilities in all 50 states and within each of the 2,703 distinct housing market areas of the country defined by the federal government.”

Disabled people “are still the low-income group with the highest levels of unmet need for housing assistance,” says the report. “The disability community must learn to use the housing advocacy tools that have been provided within federal law” says the report’s appendix, “How to Use the Information in Priced Out in 2000” (online at http://www.c-c-d.org/AppB.html). “It is only … through greater access to federal housing programs that the acute housing crisis currently facing people with disabilities can be addressed.”

Because of the recent Bush Administration initiative to implement the U.S. Supreme Court Olmstead decisIon (see 6/26/2001 E-Letter), the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development held a conference call for advocates in July to discuss ways HUD’s Section 8 program can be used for people coming out of institutions. The Collaborative’s Ann O’Hara and Karen Tamley of Chicago’s Access Living used the call to discussed ideas with advocates. Materials and the transcript of the call are online athttp://www.hhs.gov/ocr/mis.htm — an instant replay of the call is available by phone as well, until August 17, at 888-566-0648.

For more from The Technical Assistance Collaborative, visit its Opening Doors newsletter website at http://www.c-c-d.org/intro_page.htm; its issue on Olmstead is at http://www.c-c-d.org/od-dec00.htm.

For more on the Bush Administration’s Olmstead Executive Order, visit our website at http://www.accessiblesociety.org/topics/programs-policy/olmsteadexecorder061901.htm

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“Visitability” becoming more visible nationwide

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Dec. 4, 2001 — “In what would be the first such rules in the nation, Santa Monica officials are considering a proposal to require that all privately built new homes and those undergoing major remodeling have a wheelchair ramp entry, wide interior hallways and at least one handicapped-accessible bathroom,” says a story in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times. The story, “Wheelchair Access as a Must for Residences,” by Bob Pool, is online at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000095931dec02.story

Although Bill Maher poked fun at the concept awhile back on “Politically Incorrect,” “visitability,” as it’s called, has been picking up adherents nationwide. Several years ago, a “visitable” gingerbread house made the pages of the Wall Street Journal. The house, a creation of the Rochester-based Center for Disability Rights, can be seen online athttp://concretechange.home.mindspring.com/ginger.htm

The idea is not a new concept. Since the early 1990s, the grassroots group Concrete Change has promoted the concept through its website at http://concretechange.home.mindspring.com. A number of cities, including Austin, TX and Urbana, IL, now have ordinances that mandate visitability features in single-family housing paid for with public money. Atlanta, the home of Concrete Change and the first city to pass a visitability ordinance, now has over 500 single family homes with vistability features (photo online athttp://concretechange.home.mindspring.com/laws.htm). Santa Monica’s law, though, would be the first to extend to all new housing. Farther north in California, San Mateo County also encourages visitability (see http://www.smco-cod.org/GraphicPages/ResidentialVisitability.htm).

L. A. Times reporter Bob Poole notes that before Santa Monica’s ordinance will become reality, “a major obstacle must be overcome: negative public opinion from those who may fear that liberal Santa Monica is once again taking on a social crusade.” Concrete Change members, who are familiar with the arguments, have posted a page of responses athttp://concretechange.home.mindspring.com/responses.htm

Athough there’s no legal requirement, the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development “encourages” visitability features in single-family housing built with federal dollars (http://www.huduser.org/publications/pubasst/strategies.html).

Temple University’s Institute on Disabilities has information on visitability athttp://www.temple.edu/inst_disabilities/iod_nofrm/publications/Accessibility/WhatIsVisitAbility.htm

SUNY/Buffalo maintains a listserv on visitability (with a searchable archive) athttp://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/archives/visitability-list.html

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“Visitability” Updates

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Dec. 18, 2001 — In response to our 12/4/2001 E-Letter, subscriber Carol Boyer of the RESNA Technical Assistance Project writes to tell us about more visitability projects:

“In 1999, the Vermont Assistive Technology Project (VATP) initiated a ‘rental unit study bill’ (S. 174) with the Vermont legislature to mandate minimal accessibility standards in all new 1-, 2-, and 3-family housing units built on speculation in the state. Known as the “Visitability” standard bill, VATP negotiated with their legislature to add language to the rental study that would include aspects of disability access. A 1999 task force was established to work on this study. The task force consisted of representatives from the Department of Labor and Industry, the Department of Housing and Community Affairs, the Council of Vermont Elders, the Vermont Coalition for Disability Rights, the Vermont Center for Independent Living, the Disability Law Project, the Vermont Contractors Association, and low-income housing advocates.

“The agreements reached by this task force resulted in the passage of H. 612 on April 27, 2000. H. 612 mandates accessibility requirements for all new residential housing (including townhouses, condominiums, etc.) constructed in Vermont. Besides basic visitability features, the law directs VATP to work with the Department of Labor and Industry, Department of Housing and Community Affairs, and representatives from the homebuilding industry to create educational materials that explain the new construction standards and the advantages of “visitable” homes. VATP will be the lead agency in the production and dissemination of the educational materials. A Visitability brochure will be coming out soon from VATP.” (Visit the VATP website at http://www.dad.state.vt.us/atp/).

“Philadelphia is in the midst of getting legislation for a Visitability Ordinance for all new construction with public funds,” says Boyer. The bill “should be introduced in January after it gets tweaked. This comes after many months of visiting the city council, talking about visitability and giving them materials such as brochures and the video that Eleanor Smith made. (Eleanor Smith is the president and founder of Concrete Change and the most persistent advocator of visitability. See:http://concretechange.home.mindspring.com)

“Several of the Assistive Technology (AT) Act Projects have been very active in pursuing visitability in their states,” Boyer adds. To read more about their housing initiatives, which include tax credits and other activities to help individuals with disabilities stay in their homes, seehttp://www.resna.org/taproject/policy/community/HMRG.htm#target1b

Boyer invites anyone who would like more information on visitability to contact her at cboyer@resna.org

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