Independent housing and housing support programmes must be available to persons with a range of disabilities and priced affordably in order to offer inclusive and equitable housing alternatives.
Federal policymakers should address programmatic asset limits, a total lack of competitive employment, the use of subminimum wages instead of living wages, and a lack of adherence to and investment in accessible and affordable housing in order to create a system that works for everyone, including those with disabilities.
The following actions are listed down by NDIS Housing Perth that should be incorporated into these structural adjustments that prioritise housing insecurity for disability:
– To meet the demand for affordable housing units, invest in accessible housing. – In accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, update the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS), which specify the minimum percentage of accessible units in housing funded with federal funds. Even though these disabilities affect 14%, 6%, and 5% of adults in the United States, respectively, Section 504 only mandates that 5% of units be accessible for mobility disabilities and 2% of units be accessible for visual and hearing disabilities.
– Complete the implementation of the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Settings Rule, which provides Medicaid programmes in states with greater flexibility in enabling tenants to live in non-institutional settings.
– Increase SSI benefits overall and takes into account the cost of home health aides as a necessary expense to keep people independent and sheltered.
– Abolish the subminimum wage, which permits employers to legally pay disabled workers wages that are less than the federal minimum wage, or an average of $2.15 per hour. This practice keeps disabled workers in poverty.
– Eliminate asset limitations on public assistance, which lock people with disabilities in poverty by forcing applicants to have assets below a specific threshold in order to receive benefits; intensify monitoring and criminalization, and devalue the lives and labour of people with disabilities.
Additionally, policymakers ought to raise the age requirement for opening tax-advantaged Savings accounts for Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE).
– Prohibit source-of-income discrimination, which prevents more than 1.2 million disabled people from renting homes with the help of federal housing vouchers.
– Make the Housing Choice Voucher and rental assistance programmes permanent entitlements, guarantee the right to legal representation, and invest in tenant-landlord mediation.
-Stop housing discrimination and build more inclusive communities by restoring the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation, which is now under regulatory review at the request of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Conclusion
Investments in policies and programmes that prioritise housing for people with disabilities will not only save their lives but also ensure everyone has a secure place to live. When the government makes significant investments to safeguard those who experience the highest rates of housing insecurity, people from all housing experiences benefit.
These investments would build a system that is responsive, prepared to meet the growing demand for easily accessible, reasonably priced housing, and one that guards against future housing insecurity. Since everyone should have access to housing, it reflects the value placed on each and every life.
Empowered Liveability has been providing different services such as Disability Housing Investment and Specialist Disability Accommodation Melbourne, ensure delivering safe and secure housing plans. Please contact our 24/7 accessible support at 1300-974-912 oradmin@empoweredliveability.com.au for further details
