Searchby Teresa Anderson, MPH
Story after story after story! We set 
out to learn more about the housing needs of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in California and what we found is story after story about the challenges of finding safe, affordable and accessible housing options. I had the honor of interviewing Patti Uplinger, Housing Specialist in the Sacramento area. Patti is the Executive Director for Housing Now, which is a non-profit organization that plays a vital role in securing safe, affordable and accessible housing for developmentally disabled persons in the greater Sacramento region. In addition she works with several other coalitions and organizations – Lanterman Housing Alliance, Sacramento Housing Alliance, Sacramento Self Help Housing, California Disability Community Action Network (just to name a few) – to advocate for the housing needs of people with IDD.
We started the interview with a few basic questions but I quickly realized my questions were barely scratching the surface of the housing issues for people with IDD so for the most part I ditched the questions and took the opportunity to listen and learn. As we got into the issue of affordable housing and housing options, specifically for people who rely on Supplemental Security Income (SSI), the word “option” took on an entirely different meaning. Option implies choice and the reality is there is very little (if any) when it comes to safe, affordable and accessible housing for people with IDD. SSI is what most people with IDD rely on to meet their housing and living needs. Patti described the options – public housing, housing choice vouchers or units from non-profit housing developers – and the limited inventory of these options. In the Sacramento area there are waiting lists, sometimes 2 – 3 years long, for these housing units. Assuming one of the units comes available the next hurdle is to determine if it is safe and accessible. For example, many of the public housing units were built in the 1950’s and although some updates have occurred they are not truly accessible – wide hallways to accommodate wheelchairs, ramps, safety bars, etc., or perhaps the unit is an upstairs unit and there is no elevator.
People using the housing choice vouchers are facing a serious disadvantage in the rental market because the voucher rates set by Housing and Urban Development Agency (HUD) have not kept pace with fair market value so more and more landlords are choosing not to accept vouchers. In fact, there are several accounts of property owners not renewing leases or terminating month-to-month rental agreements so they can increase the rent, ultimately displacing people with a housing choice voucher. Unfortunately people with IDD are disproportionately affected by the reduction in the willingness to accept Housing Choice Vouchers because of their extremely limited housing options to begin with.
I asked Patti what she felt the greatest challenge(s) was to finding housing for people with IDD and her top three were; competition, lack of housing inventory and of course discrimination. A recent conversation she had with a property manager revealed that they had 300 emails for one apartment. The competition is unreal and according to Patti, discrimination is alive and well when it comes to renting to people with IDD. In an effort to combat this pervasive discrimination part of Housing Now’s mission is to educate the community about the living needs of people with IDD, provide outreach about current housing policy and advocacy opportunities and partner with affordable housing agencies to expand options for people with IDD to obtain safe and affordable housing.
As we ended the interview I inquired about thoughts on possible solutions to the affordable housing crisis and her first response was “WE ARE BEYOND A HOUSING CRISIS…WE ARE IN A STATE OF EMERGENCY”. That said, she believes there are some things that can be done to help reduce some of the barriers and challenges for people with IDD seeking housing. Policies need to be changes to exempt people with IDD from the requirement of having 2-3 times rent in the bank, having a credit score greater than 600, creating agreements to accept co-signors and third party checks from payee services as these are all barriers to housing for independent or supported living options. Also, we need to look at policies that include bridge funding for that would provide money to hold a property for a couple weeks while the housing paperwork if being completed or emergency funding to supplement for security deposits or monthly differential payments.
A huge THANK YOU to Patti for generosity with her time and expertise. The need for affordable housing is astronomical and crisis is real, even more so for people with IDD. On any given week Patti takes approximately 20 calls a week (the majority of which are people with IDD) of people in need of housing. I urge everyone to take a few minutes to learn more about Housing Now and supporting their advocacy efforts at: http://housingnowresource.org.
Other housing resources Patti suggested include those listed below (some are regional specific). Given the magnitude of the affordable housing discussion we will provide a series of articles and resources in an effort to raise awareness and advocacy on this issue.
http://www.lantermanhousingalliance.org/statewide-strategic-framework/
Teresa Anderson,
Prevention Coordinato