Disability committee targets accessible housing needs for next city budget

Members of the city’s disability committee want to focus requests for next year’s budget on addressing the shortage of housing affordable for those who receive federal or state disability assistance, which typically falls short of the local threshold for affordable housing.

Last month’s meeting of the Mayor’s Committee for People with Disabilities featured presentations and discussion from the Housing Department and Accessible Housing Austin that looked at the variety of city programs to address the shortage of housing in all demographic levels, including low-income populations.

Committee members said they need more specific data on average rental rates for accessible homes and apartments. They said that information will be important for a series of town hall discussions slated for this month and February, which will shape the committee’s budget requests regarding housing.

Committee Member Pete Salazar said the city needs to have more data readily available regarding accessible housing issues and the gaps faced by those who don’t meet the income levels determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“Do we know what the average rental cost is for those that are fixed incomes, like community housing that predominantly people with disabilities would have access to, or traditionally have access to as like a group home kind of setting? Are we keeping track of that number?” he said. “All these programs are great if you have established housing, but if you don’t have housing, and if you’re moving into Austin and you’re a person with disabilities and you’re on a fixed income, those gaps still exist regardless.”

Stephanie Thomas, president of AHA, said the household income levels for many HUD properties or those otherwise designated as affordable – between $24,500 and $65,450 based on recent market data – put most homes out of the reach of much of the disabled community. She said the ongoing displacement of low-income residents from Austin has a cyclical effect of raising the average income levels, which then makes even more homes and apartments unaffordable.

“The reason why it’s so high is because low-income people have been forced out of Austin, and so the incomes in Austin are very high … even our affordable housing programs target a much higher level than what most people with disabilities actually live at,” she said. “That is really a big, huge problem, not just in Austin. It’s the whole country that does this, but with our very high income, that’s a very big problem about affordability for people with disabilities.”

Thomas said the committee’s attention on accessible housing issues could help to shine a light on underreported cases of discrimination against renters with disabilities trying to make their landlords make their properties as barrier-free as possible. She said for many years, the Austin Tenants Council’s tracking of discrimination cases showed that those with disabilities consistently had the highest incidence of discrimination.

“This percentage of discrimination against people with disabilities in our city is a huge problem as well. … It’s a hidden problem unless we bring it out and make a big deal about it,” she said. “Disability just slides away under the rug unless we make a big noise about it and there’s not that much going on in terms of making noise about it right now, so I really hope that you can take your role within the city to make some noise and to push for better conditions.”

Thomas said another area of concern for the disabled community is the city’s recent lifting of occupancy limits for unrelated tenants as part of the HOME initiative. She said that change could create an opening for unregulated group homes that don’t provide adequate services for tenants with disabilities.

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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