A Crisis Within a Crisis: Disability, Housing, and the Cost of Being Locked Out Part 1

One thing we all have in common is that we need (and deserve) safe, affordable housing. Unfortunately, for people with disabilities, finding housing can be like finding a needle in a haystack. People with disabilities are disproportionally lower-income, making the current housing market too expensive for many. There are great low-income housing programs like the MRVP and AHVP, as well as Section 8, but these programs are underfunded and overburdened.
Affordable housing that’s also accessible is an even larger challenge. Even in first floor apartments, doorways are often too narrow for wheelchairs, bathrooms lack grab bars for safe maneuvering, and even one step at the entrance can make a space inaccessible. Those with non-mobility disabilities face housing issues as well, including noisy spaces or lack of fridge/freezer space to store medications. And across the disability spectrum, many people face illegal discrimination from landlords or sellers, due to Section 8 housing denials, service dog denials, and lack of willingness to provide basic accommodations, like visual fire alarms for the Deaf.
The other day, as I was searching for resources on housing from a human rights-based approach, I found this great report from the UN. Formally, it’s the “Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context:”
https://docs.un.org/en/A/72/128

If you’re interested in the state of housing for people with disabilities across the world, it’s worth reading. The report is from 2017, but sadly we’ve seen the housing crunch become even more severe as inflation rises and conflict continues across the globe.

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The United States government has been told time and time again by advocates that people with disabilities are struggling to find accessible, affordable housing. In 2010, the National Council on Disability released “The State of Housing in America in the 21st Century: A Disability Perspective.”
Here’s the link:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-Y3_D63_3-PURL-LPS124559/pdf/GOVPUB-Y3_D63_3-PURL-LPS124559.pdf

It’s 15 years old (and long), but the numbers haven’t changed much, and they’re still shocking. Here are some of the facts:
Nearly one-third of all US households have one or more people with a disability. And there are two million more with disabilities living in institutions–many of whom are there because they can’t find other housing. I hear frequently from our wonderful nursing home transition advocates that the biggest problem they face when trying to help people leave institutions is finding them appropriate, accessible and affordable housing. People who are ready to leave, stay in nursing homes, group homes, and other non-community spaces because they have nowhere else to go.

The report establishes that 41 percent of all households with disability cannot afford their housing. This means almost half of our friends and neighbors with disabilities are struggling to stay housed due to cost alone.

The report notes the appalling fact that of homeless adults staying in a shelter, 43 percent self-reported having a disability. This does not include the many homeless people without access to a shelter.

The US government has laws in place requiring a portion of public housing units to be accessible, but there’s no evidence that these laws are effective. In fact, we have very little knowledge of how many affordable, accessible units are available throughout the country.

--Rachel Cowen, Systems Change Advocate