Housing
Fighting
to get out of the nursing home doesn't do much good if it leads to the dead end
of no accessible, affordable housing. According, this has become a strong focus
of our efforts. HUD (Housing and Urban Development) is cutting rent subsidy
(Section 8) housing funds and special housing (Section 811) funds. We need to
fight these cuts. Write, call, fax and email your Senator and Representative to
tell them about our critical need for housing. Click on the picture of the
Capitol to go to CAPWIZ, a great site that will help you find your Senator and
Representative, then give you an easy way to email or, if you prefer, send a
hand-delivered telegram.
If you encounter an apartment
complex that has than four units and that was built before 1991 all of its
ground units, and if it has an elevator all of its units must be usable. To find
out what accessibility requirements these apartments must meet click on the
button below to download our housing testing form. If you believe an apartment
complex is in violation of the Federal Fair Housing Law accessibility
requirements as outlined in this form, please fill it out and return it.
Or, if you prefer you may fill out the online form below.
As with ADA access violations, we will write a letter asking for remediation of the access violation. If we get no response our board will discuss options with our attorneys and vote on whether to pursue legal action. We have had some tremendous results in pursuing access issues. Last year over 400 units were made accessible. In addition, two apartment complexes have agreed to remodel apartments as needed for access for persons with disabilities and have agreed to subsidize rents so that an individual only has to spend up to a third of his/her income on rent. This is regardless of whether the person has a section 8 housing voucher, but the subsidy will only last four years. Call Cindy at (801) 685-8214 for more information about accessing these apartments.
We need more such victories, so please notifying us of housing accessibility violations in your area. Due to funding and manpower constraints, we may not be able to follow up on all rural housing complaints. However, our attorneys and our members do get around and we will do our very best to visit and take action on all violations that are reported to us.
Conversely, if you want to nominate an apartment complex for doing an outstanding job of access, please do so below--we will send a certificate of appreciation and mention them on our web site.
We also support the concept of visitability--the idea that all homes should have at least one no-step entrance, 36" wide hallways and one usable bathroom. Please click on the bar below for our visitability/housing brochure. We have this available in a nice glossy hard copy if you would like, as well as in a Spanish version. Please contact us if you would like us to mail these to you.
