Housing Self-Advocacy for People with Disabilities

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Housing Self-Advocacy for People with Disabilities

• Disability and Employment Rights Advocacy
• Spring 2008

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What is involved in self-advocacy?

• Learning your rights
• Keeping a case file on yourself
• Choosing your battles
• Documenting your business relationships
• Asserting your rights
• Enlisting help with you need it

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Self-Advocacy in Housing

• Finding housing
• Having a good Landlord/Tenant relationship
• Getting what you need from your housing
• Leaving on good terms
• Asserting your rights throughout the housing
  relationship

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Housing Options

• Emergency
• Renting
• Buying
• Extra Help

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Emergency Housing

• Public assistance programs can sometimes help and
  are a good place to start
• Social service agencies sometimes have shelter
  space available

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Renting

• First Steps
• Know what you want
• Know what you can afford
• Know your rental and credit history

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Renting

• It is unlawful for landlords or public housing
  agencies to discriminate on the basis of
  disability status
• If you are denied housing, you may make a
  complaint with the Department of Fair Employment
  and Housing or with the United States Department
  of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Fair
  Housing and Equal Opportunity office

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Buying

• It is unlawful for sellers or lenders to
  discriminate on the basis of disability status
• If you have been refused as a buyer or been
  denied a loan because of your disability, you may
  file a complaint with the HUD Fair Housing and
  Equal Opportunity office

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Extra Help

• If you need extra help to live independently, you
  may qualify for In Home Supportive Services
• If you have a helper, but your landlord or a home
  seller does not want to permit your helper to
  stay in your unit, you may file a discrimination
  complaint
• If you need a service animal for help, your
  landlord must permit it as a reasonable
  accommodation (but he or she can charge a pet
  deposit)

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A good landlord/tenant relationship

• Know your lease terms
• Keep your landlord informed (if you need a
  service animal in the unit, if you will have a
  care giver visiting, etc.)
• Put important information in writing
• Be a responsible tenant

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Reasonable accommodations during tenancy

• Requesting Accommodation
• Explain what you need and why you need it
• Educate your landlord about your rights as a
  person with disabilities
• Offer to discuss your request
• Be prepared to offer documentation from a medical
  provider
• If you request is denied
• Consider finding a professional advocate
• Make a discrimination complaint

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Types of reasonable accommodations

• Physical modifications
• Exemptions from tenant rules or lease provisions
• Examples
• Permission to wear special clothing in the common
  swimming pool
• Permission to pay rent in cash
• Permission to widen doorways or lower countertops
  in a unit

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What is reasonable

• Must be necessary because of the tenants
  disability
• Cannot pose an undue financial hardship or
  administrative cost on the housing provider
• Cannot fundamentally change the housing
  providers business

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Leaving on good terms

• Notice
• Rental agreements usually include a notice
  provision and it is usually 30 days
• A notice from your landlord is not an eviction
• Security deposit issues
• Leave the unit clean and repaired (if you caused
  any damage)
• Do a walk through with the landlord before you
  turn over the keys
• If you dont get the amount of the deposit back
  you are owed, you may sue in Small Claims court

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Eviction

• Eviction means that an unlawful detainer action
  is filed against you in court and
• You did not answer and a default judgment was
  entered against you, or
• You filed an answer, went to trial and lost

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Eviction process

• Your landlord must first give you a notice to
  vacate the unit (3 days for non-payment of rent
  or 30-60 days for all other reasons depending on
  how long you have lived in the unit.)
• If you do not give up possession of the unit
  (vacate and turn over your keys) before the time
  given in the notice expires, your landlord can
  file an unlawful detainer and serve you with
  the summons and complaint
• You cannot try to avoid being served!

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Eviction process, cont.

• You have 5 days from the day you are served to
  file an answer to the summons and complaint (in
  the answer you state your defenses)
• Within approximately 20 days from the day you
  file your answer, a trial will be scheduled
• At your trial, you can bring witnesses, evidence
  and argue your side of the dispute
• The judge or commissioner will issue a decision

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Common eviction defenses

• Failure of the landlord to accommodate if you
  are being evicted because you failed to comply
  with a provision of your rental agreement and you
  requested a reasonable accommodation
• Habitability if your rental unit was not
  habitable or safe enough to occupy and you
  withheld rent because of that
• Bad notice if your landlord didnt serve the
  unlawful detainer or the notice properly

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After eviction

• If you are evicted, you may file a Stay of
  Execution to get more time to move out. The
  judge does not have to grant the stay, but being
  disabled and needing extra time to pack and move
  is a valid argument for granting the stay.
• Within 60 days of the filing of the unlawful
  detainer, your credit record will show that your
  landlord either evicted or tried to evict you
• The record of the eviction will stay on your
  credit report for 7 years

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Housing rights

• Fair housing
• A habitable unit
• Rights pursuant to the lease or rental agreement
• Notice to terminate tenancy without cause (from
  30-60 days for private housing, 90 days for
  Section 8 units)
• Hearing rights for Section 8 tenants
• Unlawful Detainer process