Disability workshop focuses on housing rights(1)

By Alfredo Santana

A workshop titled "Housing advocacy: Rights for people with disabilities", focused on the current legal housing framework in California, and on federal housing laws that make illegal to deny reasonable housing accommodations to the elderly and people with disabilities.

Maria Iriarte, managing attorney with Disability Rights California, said during the RespecTABILITY 2010 conference that someone with a disability is defined by the federal government as “any person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such impairment, or is regarded as having such an impairment.”

Based on the latter, Iriarte said mobility and visual impairments, chronic alcoholism and chronic mental illness, and AIDS are defined as conditions that substantially limit one or more major life activities. Major life activities, as defined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development include walking, talking, hearing, seeing, breathing, learning, performing manual tasks, and caring for oneself.

Under the Federal Housing Act (FHA) of 1968, landlords cannot deny housing based on the applicants’ mentioned conditions, she said.

However, Iriarte said, a landlord can legally deny housing to a drug addict. Fair housing for these individuals can only be restored if they engage in rehabilitation, and any substance consumption is monitored and controlled by counselors, or physicians. If so, or if drug abuse are things of the past, and rent is denied, the law allows the possibility to sue for housing discrimination.

Likewise, if a disabled individual lives with his or her mother, father, brother, sister, or anyone else who lends assistance, and is denied rent because at least two people would use the rented premises, a complaint can be filed against the landlord, or apartments manager.

Iriarte said there are no big Fair Housing case law in California regarding disability issues. However, that does not mean that there may be important issues still to be treated in court, particularly on non-accessible housing units. The Fair Housing Act (FHA) of 1968, Title VIII, prohibits discrimination “in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, and in other housing related transactions, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability."

Carey Stone, an attorney with Mental Health Advocacy Services, said advertising on rent units and housing can also be tricky, deceiving, and discriminatory for people with disabilities. She suggested to contact Fair Housing Counsel groups in the region, to get advice on questions regarding these issues, "and anything linked to housing for people with disabilities."

About 95% of all calls to these centers deal with housing accommodations.