NCIL - The National Council on Independent Living

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. -- Frederick Douglass

In the aftermath of two devastating hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, which have ravaged the Gulf Coast from Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas in the West to Mobile, Alabama in the East over the past couple of months, the needs of the hundreds of thousands of persons with disabilities who lived in this region before these storms have all too often been brushed aside. Many of the impacted communities have astonishingly high rates of disability - 23.2% in New Orleans, 23.4% in St Bernard Parish (LA), 21% in Jefferson Parish (LA), 27.1% in Hancock County (MS), and 21.3% in Jackson County (MS).

Since NCIL was concerned that the legislative and administrative responses would be inadequate to the housing needs of persons with disabilities, our Housing Subcommittee developed, adopted and has begun to promote a position paper entitled, "NCIL PRINCIPLES ON HOUSING POLICY IN LIGHT OF HURRICANES KATRINA AND RITA." Please find the full paper below and attached. While your members of Congress are at home on recess over the coming week, we encourage you to call this issue and our policy proposals to their attention and urge support and funding for them when Congress returns the week of October 17th.

GOVERNMENT REACTION HAS BEEN INADEQUATE: Unfortunately, our fears about the governmental response to Katrina and Rita have been justified. Stories have begun to appear in newspapers making it clear that basic needs of persons with disabilities impacted by Katrina and Rita are not being met.

Furthermore, instead of committing to investing new money to rebuild these communities and make them model accessible, affordable, livable communities, many in Congress have talked about the need to reduce spending on public housing across the remainder of the country. The ripple effects of Katrina and Rita are spreading far and wide as the survivors of these hurricanes are being settled across the 50 states, without any indication that authorities are matching accessible housing with those who actually need it.

Persons with disabilities who were not in the Hurricanes' paths may become secondary victims of the hurricane if displaced individuals are put ahead of them on waiting lists for accessible, affordable housing. Developers striving to make New Orleans into a tourist town and to reduce the supply of low-income housing there appear to be getting the upper hand, which could displace many people for good. Visitability and accessibility do not seem to be priorities for those most connected with the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. Congress needs to get the message: Many persons with disabilities have been adversely impacted by Katrina and Rita. Congress and the Bush Administration have an obligation to put in place a housing policy framework that will ensure that their needs are addressed.

OVERVIEW of NCIL PRINCIPLES ON HOUSING POLICY IN LIGHT OF HURRICANES KATRINA AND RITA

CALL ON CONGRESS TO ADOPT LEGISLATION CONSISTENT WITH NCIL HOUSING PRINCIPLES

Empty promises and platitudes are not sufficient in the aftermath of the appalling treatment of persons with disabilities throughout the evacuation process, by the Red Cross in shelters and by FEMA in the communities. We need to call upon Congress, HUD & FEMA to immediately implement a housing program that meets the demonstrated needs of persons with disabilities displaced by or otherwise impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Especially if your Representative is on the FINANCIAL SERVICES or APPROPRIATIONS Committees or your Senator is on the BANKING AND HOUSING or the APPROPRIATIONS Committees, he or she needs to take a stand now to support these vital principles. Only with a groundswell for positive action do can we get our government to fulfill its responsibilities to its citizens in the process of rebuilding after this double-barreled natural disaster!!!

Shelters and other temporary housing need to be accessible to, and to honor the civil rights of, persons with disabilities. The reports we have on this subject from CIL Directors such as Christy Dunaway in Mississippi and others on site in the region are frankly appalling! The Red Cross and FEMA must do a better job on this. Individuals should not go into shelters fearing that they'll have their service animals taken from them, be deprived of the interpreters or denied access to the durable medical equipment they require or be institutionalized if some volunteer thinks it is "in their best interests." CILs, P&A's and other disability groups need to be given unimpeded access to shelters to ensure that consumers' basic needs are being met and to facilitate transition to better living arrangements. Finally, shelters should be ADA-compliant and temporary housing that is erected should be accessible. Given that trailer homes tend to be very narrow and to lack adequate turning radius for wheelchairs, they are not a viable option for households with a person with a disability and alternate provisions need to be made. Given that census findings suggest that 26% of the impacted population of that region has a disability, this should not be too much to ask.
Relocation dollars in adequate amounts is a MUST: The availability of sufficient relocation dollars seems to be addressed in the Sarbanes Amendment to the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations bill in the Senate, which allocates $3.5 billion in temporary vouchers and relocation money for evacuees. However, companion legislation consistent with the eleven principles outlined in this document ought to be passed in the House post-haste. But how much will go to relocation and how will these funds be disbursed? Depending on the availability/ lack thereof of the necessary services and supports, persons with disabilities may have to move around multiple times to find housing that matches their needs. Will rules allow for usage on multiple occasions in case individuals with disabilities encounter barriers or have difficulty finding housing they can use? Even if it is permissible, will the dollars be adequate to fund multiple moves when necessary? Will resources given to individuals for relocation be sufficient to allow those who wish to return home to do so when the time is right?
Essential to match housing with individuals' needs: The real concern here is that with hundreds of thousands of people dislocated from their place of residence, some for the second time, there will be a real desire to move people into housing -- ANY HOUSING -- as quickly as possible. This has the potential to result in the placement of people who do not need accessible housing into accessible housing, in turn preventing many of those for whom the housing stock is most scarce from finding housing that meets their accessibility needs. This may in turn lead to the acceptance of substandard accessibility in housing or compel people already dislocated by Katrina and Rita to make multiple moves in order to find housing commensurate with their needs. Proactive policy approaches have to be adopted and implemented -- including, but not limited to, conducting inventories of 504-compliant public rental housing and individualized assessments to find the best fit between needs and the available housing stock. Since accessible, affordable housing is so scarce persons of all ages with mobility/ sensory disabilities of all ages should get priority in obtaining housing that meets their needs. Finally, those developing and implementing housing policy need to be sensitive to the needs of individuals with Multiple-Chemical/ Electrical Sensitivities (MCS/ES) and ensure that they can obtain suitable housing as expeditiously as possible.
Need to WATCH for ripple effects on local PHA's and persons with disabilities: Some of us are very concerned that housing authorities may be so busy serving evacuees from Katrina and Rita that they drain their accessible, affordable rental housing stock and don't have any for those from the area who need it. The result could be that those who have already spent a long time on PHA's waiting lists may be stuck waiting either for months or indefinitely for Section 8 or other public housing that meets their needs to become available. Accordingly, our position is that the $3.5 billion allocation in the Sarbanes amendment should be a supplement to, not a substitute for, the money that Congress intends to appropriate this year. Another scenario to watch for is a surge in the price of rental housing in regions whose populations are enlarged by evacuees from Katrina (and possibly Rita). This may make it more expensive to house everyone in those particular areas and HUD needs to be a good steward in the event that this scenario arises.
Congress SHOULD NOT deduct the emergency supplemental funds apportioned to public housing in the Sarbanes amendment from the overall resources allocated to housing in the standard appropriations process. To do otherwise would be to compound the tragedy that Hurricane Katrina has brought upon the nation.
Ample Home Accessibility Modification funding is a vital component in an effective post-Katrina/ post Rita housing strategy: Especially if failures occur in matching housing with the needs of individuals or if relocation money is inadequate, it will be vital to provide ample funding for home accessibility modifications. Home accessibility modifications are one of the stopgap measures that can help compensate for other early failures in the process. To have a safety net that no one falls through, substantial home accessibility funding is a MUST.
Right to Return Home: Post-Katrina housing policy should be consistent with the guiding principle that those who want to return to their communities should be able to do so. Though some may not want to and of course should be given the right to decide, redevelopment should preserve affordability and acknowledge that people may have set up their support networks, livelihoods, etc in a particular location and should have the opportunity to reestablish those arrangements to the best of their ability if they desire to do so.
New Housing Stock Should Exceed FHAA/ 504 Requirements and Mandate Universal Design. With the devastation inflicted on the Gulf Coast, much of the housing/ building stock needs to be reconstructed. Consistent with the National Council on Disability (NCD)'s recommendation, the Federal Government should pass legislation to mandate universal design and full accessibility for all new construction in the region affected by Hurricane Katrina, whether it is funded with FEMA, USDA, or HUD dollars. A recent survey among Katrina evacuees who had gone to Houston found that 38% of those who did not evacuate before the storm either had a mobility disability or were caring for someone who had a mobility disability, Demographic pressures in light of the aging of the baby boom generation mean that this would be a wise and (in the long-run) cost-efficient strategy. Congress ought make the creation of livable communities premised on universal design and the need to reduce architectural barriers limiting ease of movement for persons with disabilities a top priority in all federally funded or assisted construction.
FEMA and HUD need to coordinate with HHS to ensure that persons with disabilities are not institutionalized for lack of accessible, affordable housing and to make certain that those who have been institutionalized are located and returned to the community at the earliest feasible opportunity
HUD and Congress ought not to be indiscriminate in providing for and granting waivers from targetting provisions in public housing. Although waivers of targeting rules to accommodate evacuees from Katrina may seem expedient, we have gotten reports that such policies are making it harder for poorer evacuees, and local voucher holders with disabilities, to secure housing that meets their needs. It is imperative that we preserve the availability and affordability of public housing for persons with disabilities and legislation authorizing additional waivers should provide safeguards to ensure that there is not a disparate impact on the supply of accessible, affordable housing for low-income persons with disabilities.
Disability Advocates Must Be Fully Included in and throughout the Policymaking and Policy Implementation Process. Persons with disabilities are experts as to the needs, problems and solutions to the housing issues in their communities. Consistent with the disability movement's saying, "nothing about us, without us," we believe that it is imperative that the US Congress, HUD, FEMA and USDA consult with the disability community, including cross-disability Centers for Independent Living (CILs) and Statewide Independent Living Councils (SILCs) on each of the issues identified above and throughout the policy development and implementation processes. Regrettably, early reports suggest that to date, HUD and FEMA have not come close to adequately engaging the disability community in this process. We hope that this changes in the weeks and months to come.

Action Alert October 13, 2005 NCIL Action Alert: NCIL Principles on Housing Policy In Light of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Action Alert
October 13, 2005

NCIL Action Alert: NCIL Principles on Housing Policy In Light of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.