Community Housing for People with Disabilities:
Integrating Affordability and Supported Living: A White Paper
By Dale DiLeo
Lack of Affordable Housing is a Barrier to Supported Living
Does The Existence of Affordable Housing in a Neighborhood Lower Property Values?
Keys to Developing Affordable Housing
Overview of an Innovative Affordable Housing Project in Florida
Recommendations for Expanding Local Affordable Housing for People with Disabilities
Resources for Affordable Housing
Appendix
Recommendations for Federal Policy Changes to Increase Affordable Housing
Other State and Local Housing Initiatives
Lack of Affordable Housing is a Barrier to Supported Living
Supported living has in fact provided more individualized and normalized living options for Florida citizens with developmental disabilities. But one of the barriers to supported living in this state is the lack of affordable housing. Most individuals with developmental disabilities earn below the poverty level, and often cannot afford market rents in many areas, leaving them with limited housing options. These include leasing homes or apartments in undesirable areas, sharing their home with others in similar circumstances, or moving into pre-existing facilities that congregate people based on their deficits.
Housing is considered to be affordable if monthly housing cost does not exceed a certain percentage of a family's monthly income. The acceptable percentage usually ranges from 30-35 percent of a family's monthly income.
This difficulty in finding affordable housing for people with disabilities has been problematic throughout the US. In Texas, for instance, the state identified about 800 people who could move from institutions to community-based residences if the housing were available. In December 2001, it obtained 35 Housing Access Vouchers from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) (a small number compared to the 800 people in need) just to begin the process. Five months later, it had not utilized a single voucher. According to state officials, this was partly due to the lack of affordable housing for people living on Supplemental Security Income and other disability benefits.
According to "Priced Out in 2000," a report published by the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force and the Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC):
• In 2000, there was not one single housing market where people receiving SSI could afford to rent an efficiency or one-bedroom apartment.
• In 2000, people with disabilities receiving SSI needed to pay -- on a national average - nearly 98% of their SSI check in order to be able to rent a modest one-bedroom unit at the published HUD Fair Market Rent.
• Cost of living adjustments to SSI benefit levels have not kept pace with the cost of rental housing. Between 1998- 2000, rental-housing costs rose almost twice as much as the income of people with disabilities.
Most individuals with developmental disabilities earn below the poverty level, and often cannot afford market rents in many areas, leaving them with limited housing options. These include leasing homes or apartments in undesirable areas, sharing their home with others in similar circumstances, or moving into pre-existing facilities that congregate people based on their deficits.
To make the goal of individualized community living a reality for people with disabilities we must create more affordable housing options in communities across America Increased housing production will not only increase the availability of affordable housing, it will dramatically increase the number of rental units that are accessible to people with disabilities as required by the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988.
In a review of housing for people with disabilities, the National Council on Disability stated:
Shortages of affordable housing are widely recognized as representing one of the major problems facing people of moderate and low incomes in our country today. For people with disabilities, this problem is even more acute, because affordability is also conditioned by inaccessibility, availability, and discrimination. According to a recent study, while levels of home ownership for most Americans are at near historic highs, rates of home ownership for Americans with disabilities remain shockingly low, languishing in the single digits.
In other words, the supply of otherwise affordable housing that many Americans with disabilities can purchase, rent, or even visit is limited by the fact that much of this housing stock is not accessible. What's more, discrimination may stand in the way of its availability and occupancy.
The importance of housing issues is apparent given the involvement of HUD in the government's preliminary Olmstead implementation report (Delivering on the Promise http://www.hhs.gov/newfreedom/presidentrpt.html ). The report included recommendations for upgraded enforcement and other program enhancements in the housing and fair housing areas for people with disabilities.
In Florida, the Florida Housing Coalition analyzed the gaps in affordable housing available in the state. They concluded that there are relatively few units or vouchers are available compared to the great number of severely cost burdened households in the extremely low-income range, or between 0-30% of area median income spent on housing costs:
In most markets throughout Florida, the demand for affordable, rental housing at all AMI levels continues to be strong. From a pure need perspective, however, this analysis also shows that more units are needed to serve lower income households, especially those in the 0-30 percent AMI range. Moreover, housing programs by themselves cannot meet the remaining affordable housing need across all incomes because the housing component is only one element of the existing need for Floridians earning 30 percent of AMI.