A report conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) at the direction of Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) reveals crucial information concerning the difficulties of locating affordable, accessible rental units for recipients of HUD housing assistance with disabilities, including Section 8 voucher holders, public housing residents, and Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) tenants.
More than 1.8 million households living with physical, mental, and other disabilities receive HUD assistance, but finding affordable, accessible housing for households with disabilities can be challenging. People with disabilities are entitled to legal protections concerning accessible housing, but not all people with disabilities who qualify for housing assistance receive it, because the cost of accessible housing often exceeds programs’ rent caps. As a result, HUD-assisted households with disabilities can end up living in rental housing that does not meet their accessibility needs: according to the GAO report, 300,000 households with mobility devices reported living in units without any accessibility features, despite the fact that providers of HUD-assisted housing are required to provide reasonably accessible housing for tenants with disabilities.
Fully accessible units are rare because the majority of rental units in the U.S pre-date certain accessible design and construction requirements, and some of these older models have structural impositions that prevent their modification. Often, households with disabilities must choose between either newer, more accessible housing – which can be prohibitively expensive – or more affordable units with fewer, if any, accessible features. Private landlords are not required by the “Fair Housing Act” to pay for unit modifications, and no dedicated funding from HUD exists to accomplish this goal, so renters often pay out of pocket to make their unit more accessible.
The GAO analysis reveals much about the renter experience for households with disabilities receiving HUD assistance and points to the need for increased federal investments in the construction, operation, and preservation of deeply affordable, accessible housing.
Read the report here.