People with disabilities face extra hurdles amid national housing shortage

Millions of Americans are priced out of homes and apartments. For people with disabilities, finding an accessible place they can afford can be even more challenging. Judy Woodruff reports on the affordable housing shortage for our series, Disability Reframed.

Read the Full Transcript

Geoff Bennett: But, first, to the nation’s affordable housing shortage.

Millions of Americans are priced out of homes and apartments. And for people with disabilities, finding an accessible place they can afford can be even more challenging.

Judy Woodruff reports as part of our series Disability Reframed.

Judy Woodruff: Thirty-four-year-old Jensen Caraballo considered himself lucky when he moved into this apartment more than a decade ago.

After searching for two years, he found a one-bedroom in Rochester, New York, where he lives with 24/7 care from in-home attendants like Luis (ph).

Jensen Caraballo, New York Resident: I will be honest. I settled for less. I needed a two-bedroom apartment that was affordable and accessible, and this place was neither. But it was the only way that I could live independently. So I settled for less.

Judy Woodruff: Caraballo has spinal muscular atrophy, a neuromuscular disability, and has used a wheelchair since he was a child. At 15 years old, he moved into a nursing home.

Jensen Caraballo: I remember feeling neglected. Living in a nursing home as a teenager was very challenging and, honestly, traumatic. I felt stripped of my autonomy.

Judy Woodruff: But his apartment is far from ideal. The bathroom is too small for him to close the door, and almost everything in his kitchen is inaccessible.

You have to back in, in order to use the refrigerator, right?

Jensen Caraballo: Yes.

Judy Woodruff: And then what about the sink?

Jensen Caraballo: I have no access.

Judy Woodruff: He says he moved in because there were no other options in his budget.

Caraballo receives Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, a monthly benefit program many people with disabilities rely on. He uses the SSI payment and a housing voucher to help cover his rent, but says it isn’t enough to pay for the apartment and all of his other monthly expenses.

Jensen Caraballo: Sometimes, there’s a bill that doesn’t get paid. Sometimes, I’m in the negative in my bank account. I ask for family and friends to chip in, if they are able to. That takes a lot out of me to have to ask for help.

This is my story, but it’s not just my story. It’s an issue that has impacted the disability community for a very long time.

Judy Woodruff: More than four million people with disabilities who receive SSI can’t afford rent in any U.S. housing market. The maximum SSI payment for one person is about $950 a month.

It’s the sole source of income for many who receive it, and it’s used to pay for everything from housing to food and transportation. Even in America’s cheapest rental market, Dallas County, Missouri, rent for a one-bedroom would require 64 percent of a monthly SSI payment.

Erin Nguyen Neff, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund: We have set up a situation where millions of people with disabilities can’t afford to live anywhere in the United States.

Judy Woodruff: Erin Nguyen Neff is a staff attorney at the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund and represents people in court cases involving housing discrimination. Nguyen Neff says, even when people with disabilities do find affordable housing, ensuring their space is accessible can be daunting.

Erin Nguyen Neff: A person with a disability might need a home health aide to live in with them. This could technically be a violation of your lease. There might be some limitation on how many people can be in that on how many people can be in that apartment and for what period of time.

Another classic example is having basic modifications to your home, like having bars in the bathroom, so if you have a mobility disability, it’s easier for you to use a shower or to use a toilet.

Judy Woodruff: In 1988, former president Ronald Reagan signed an extension of the Fair Housing Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability. But Nguyen Neff says, all too often, landlords ignore tenants with disabilities or deny requests for reasonable accommodation.

Last year, more than half of all housing complaints filed nationwide were disability-related. Nguyen Neff says that reality and a shortage of in-home support services like direct care workers gives some people with disabilities no option but to live in nursing homes or other institutions.

Erin Nguyen Neff: If we can make some changes to our society, provide some more support and services, a person with a disability can live independently and can do a lot of the same things people without disabilities can.

Judy Woodruff: Just off a light rail station stop in San Jose, California, a new apartment building offers an alternative.

The Kelsey Ayer Station is home to people with and without disabilities across various income levels.

Micaela Connery, Co-Founder and CEO, The Kelsey: Whether you’re a person with disabilities, who SSI is your sole source of income and you have almost no money to pay rent, or you’re middle-income making $100,000 a year, that this community meets that diverse level of affordability.

Judy Woodruff: Micaela Connery is co-founder and CEO of The Kelsey, the nonprofit that co-developed the building. She started it with her cousin Kelsey, who had multiple disabilities and was an advocate for inclusion.

She says what makes the building unique is its focus on fostering community, with resident outings and monthly meetings led by so-called inclusion concierges, who connect residents to services.

Micaela Connery: From, I need a transit pass, how do I get there, to I’m in a crisis and I need my service and case manager to all come together and help me get through this crisis, to I’m looking for a social group to be involved in that’s around the arts, do you have any suggestions?

Judy Woodruff: And from the beginning, people with and without disabilities took part in workshops to decide what the buildings design and services should look like, including 33-year-old Isaac Haney-Owens, who has autism. He showed us around The Kelsey’s sensory garden.

Isaac Haney-Owens, The Kelsey: It gives people a place to be able to decompress if they need to get away from the stimulation that’s going on in the building. We want to show the world that people with and without disabilities can live together and not be separated from each other when it comes to housing.

Judy Woodruff: Twenty-five percent of the buildings unit’s are reserved for people with disabilities. They include kitchens and bathrooms with removable cabinets for wheelchair users and dimmable lighting for people with light sensitivity.

Floors are coded by number, color, and symbol to help with wayfinding; 39-year-old Trevor Lucken moved to The Kelsey in June. He loves being in the kitchen and dreams of starting his own cooking show.

Trevor Lucken, The Kelsey: I put the butter in and then put the egg in after. And then I take my bagel seasoning right on top.

Judy Woodruff: Lucken has Down syndrome and says he enjoys using the building’s gym and having his own space.

Having your own room, where you can do what you want to do, what does that mean to you?

Trevor Lucken: It’s more comfortable. I just like it, because I can get my own privacy.

Judy Woodruff: The building project was financed with a combination of government funding, philanthropy, low-income tax credits, and loans. Connery says she hopes to expand the housing model to more states, but the biggest challenge is funding.

Micaela Connery: Having that either philanthropic or public subsidy to bring into these is crucial to make sure you serve the deepest need.

Because affordability is so critical and having units available for folks with disabilities who have no familial support and no other funding available, if we only wanted to serve people who were middle- and high-income, then maybe you could explore a for-profit model.

Judy Woodruff: And attorney Nguyen Neff says making housing affordable and accessible nationwide starts with policy.

Erin Nguyen Neff: Having adequate rent regulation or rent control to help keep rents regulated and low for people with disabilities and for low-income people, increasing funding so that people with disabilities have greater access to housing, but also changing the way we look at housing to remove the profit motive and center the people living there.

Judy Woodruff: Back in Rochester, Jensen Caraballo says, ultimately, changing the status quo around housing starts with shifting how others think about disability.

Jensen Caraballo: I think we often feel shame and embarrassment when it comes to disability. There’s this narrative that you’re better off dead than disabled.

And we have to change that. Disability is a natural and normal thing. It’s a part of life, and it can affect any of us at any time.

Judy Woodruff: He says he’s hopeful he will one day find a new place he can call home.

For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Judy Woodruff in Rochester, New York.