When you’re out and about in Santa Monica, look at the homes on any given street - the charming cottages, the apartments, the dingbats. Now imagine you can’t walk up stairs. How many of those homes would be immediately inaccessible to you?
If you haven’t contemplated this, you’re not alone: the intersection of homelessness, rent burdens and disability and the lack of truly accessible affordable low and moderate income housing seem to be routinely overlooked. According to the Coalition to End Homelessness, Housing and Urban Development doesn’t even require data collection about disability. Given that 27% of the US population — roughly 42 million, greater than the population of California — is disabled, this seems like a grievous oversight. There are about 7 million disabled people in California; almost 1 million in Los Angeles County alone. Disabled people in LA County are about three times more likely to experience housing instability than non-disabled individuals. With all of this in mind, you’d think there would be more attention paid to this neon elephant waving a red flag in the middle of the room.
Apartments that are both affordable and accessible are few and far between. Disabled people may be caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, so to speak: Older housing often lacks access features such as elevators and wide doorways that can accommodate wheelchairs. Newer ADA compliant housing may be too expensive. Some disabled people make too much to qualify for local housing programs, but not enough to afford the extremely high market rate rents in new developments with elevators and other access features. If they do qualify for a housing program of any kind, they may encounter Rube Goldberg-level red tape or wait for years for a unit.
Even if the building is both accessible and affordable, exterior access may still be a problem. Developers and policy makers seem to have completely forgotten that vehicles need access to buildings independent of resident parking. Mass transit, walking and cycling are not panaceas. Is someone’s new refrigerator going to be delivered by bicycle, for example? This affects everyone, but disabled and elderly residents may depend more heavily on services like curb to curb paratransit, grocery and meal delivery and home healthcare visits, and thus experience greater hardship when access to services is impeded. Compounding the problem, 2022’s AB 2097 law limits cities’ ability to intervene and mandate any parking at all.
Do disabled people — especially those who are rent burdened or at risk of homelessness — really have the time, energy and resources to navigate this gauntlet and find the needle-in-a-haystack apartment that is actually fully accessible? Is there help? Not so much. Many seem to assume that “disabled” is synonymous with “elderly,” and younger people are often referred to programs for seniors they’re not even eligible for. Similarly, disabled individuals may find themselves pointed toward assisted living when it is a completely inappropriate setting for them.
Widespread accessibility at all income levels helps disabled people find housing for now, but it’s also an insurance policy for later; it ensures someone will not necessarily need to find a new home if they become disabled or ill. Any one of us is an illness, accident or surgical procedure away from requiring accommodation, either permanently or temporarily. All of us will become elderly, if we’re lucky enough to live that long. Will our housing still be accessible, or will it drive us away?
If Los Angeles County wants to keep people housed, they desperately need to stop treating accessibility as an afterthought, a luxury accoutrement or a need exclusive to seniors. They need to push to amend AB2097 to acknowledge the need for exterior access. They need housing programs for both low and moderate income, and they need them to be less complicated and frustrating. And they need a clear, direct way to address and mitigate access shortcomings, other than shifting the burden to disabled individual to navigate the court system or make countless calls to different government offices and charitable organizations pleading for help.
Right now, NGOs and policymakers aren’t listening — they don’t even seem aware anyone’s speaking. As long as that continues, disabled people will continue to struggle to find safe, affordable, accessible homes.
Denise Reich lives with several chronic illnesses and disabilities and tries to advocate where and when she can. She is also a writer who has had pieces in the Saturday Evening Post, Santa Monica Review, Bermuda Royal Gazette, Chicken Soup for the Soul and many other publications.
