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City and County of San Francisco
Mayor’s Disability Council
Attachments
to the Minutes of March 16, 2001
Training Notes
March 2001, Mayor’s Disability Council Meeting
· The Fair Housing Amendments
Act (FHAA) is a federal law covering 1) all dwellings except an owner-occupied
building of four or fewer units and 2) the sale of a single-family house without
rental agents.
· Section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act is a federal law that covers any federal agency and applies to all housing
that receives federal funds.
· The Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA), Title II applies to governmental agencies or services, including
housing authorities and public accommodations such as motels or hotels including
the rental or sales of office buildings.
· The Fair Employment and Housing
Act (FEHA) is a California state law which covers all dwellings except an owner-occupied
house in which only one room is rented out.
· The Unruh Civil Rights Act
is a California State law covering all businesses, also landlords.
· There are some significant
costs or penalties to a housing provider/landlord that violates the Fair Housing
Laws such as the loss of subsidy or funding if the housing is government subsidized,
emotional distress that an individual may experience, punitive damages if the
discrimination was willful, attorney’s fees for the tenant or injunctive relief,
which is affirmative action that the landlord has to change their policy.
· A person is considered to
have a disability for purposes of federal and state Fair Housing Law if they
have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major
life activities. Major life activities include walking, seeing, hearing, working,
learning, or caring for one’s self. A person is also considered to have a disability
if they have a record of such impairment or if they are regarded as having such
impairment. For example this law may cover someone who has cancer currently
or has a record of having cancer in the past. This law includes people with
a mental health disability, HIV or AIDS, developmental disabilities, serious
physical health conditions, alcoholism and past drug addiction.
· The law excludes some individuals
with disabilities if the tendency would pose a direct threat to others. If a
person’s disability would result in substantial damage to the property of others
or if the individual is not otherwise qualified for housing. There are certain
housing programs that are targeted for different classes of people. For instance,
Section 202 buildings are for seniors, Section 811 buildings are for people
with disabilities and McKinney funded programs are for formerly homeless people
and even within this there may be some shelter plus care program that is targeted
for people with multiple disabilities.
· The law prohibits discrimination
and requires an affirmative obligation on the part of housing providers to provide
reasonable accommodations so that a person with a disability has equal access.
Since a person with a disability is in a protected class, it is illegal to refuse
to rent or sell to an individual because they have a disability, to treat an
applicant or a tenant differently because they have a disability, to evict a
tenant or to steer an applicant to one floor, building or neighborhood. These
protections apply at all phases of housing that an individual can experience,
from when an applicant is applying to housing, when a person is living in a
housing situation or when there is a risk of eviction from a housing situation.
It is illegal to ask questions about a person’s disability, to have new buildings
that aren’t architecturally accessible, to not provide reasonable modifications
to the premises and to refuse to provide reasonable accommodations. It is the
responsibility of the individual tenant to request for a reasonable accommodation.
A housing provider must make reasonable changes in policies, practices, procedures
and rules and structural modifications so that people with disabilities have
equal access. There are limits on reasonable accommodations such as a housing
provider doesn’t have to something which is a fundamental alteration of the
housing program or something which is an undue financial and administrative
burden. An undue financial and administrative burden is a cost-based test.
· Walter Park discussed the
responsibilities of a City and County funded project versus a privately funded
project. Any projects funded directly by the City and County have to meet certain
ADA requirements and 504 requirements. None of the earlier Fair Housing Laws
made any requirements for privately funded housing.
· Mr. Hirsh reviewed the reasonable
accommodations DANCE, which is an acronym for Disability Accommodation
Necessary Cost and Effect a fundamental change. Disability
- Does the tenant have a disability as defined by the fair housing laws? Accommodation
- Is the tenant requesting an accommodation of the housing provider’s rules
or practices? Necessary - Is the accommodation necessary because of the
tenant’s disability? Cost - Does the accommodation impose an undue financial
or administrative cost on the housing provider? Effect - Would the accommodation
effect a fundamental change in the housing provider’s business?
· Tenants who need some assistance
can contact a fair housing agency, the Human Rights Commission, the Independent
Living Resource Center, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH),
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for subsidized housing,
a non-profit legal service organization or a private attorney.
· The AIDS Legal Referral Panel
will be sponsoring a forum on housing issues for people with HIV and AIDS on
May 31st in the Latino Hispanic Room at the Main Library from 1:00
p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Michael Kwok inquired about a person
living in a privately owned apartment building making a reasonable accommodation
request for the installation of an automatic door opener.
Mr. Hirsh explained that for a physical
change, the housing provider is required to allow for the change but the individual
tenant making the request will have to be financially responsible.
Jim Brune wanted to know the responsibility
of a landlord when a deaf or hard of hearing tenant makes a request for visual
fire alarms to be installed.
Walter Park pointed out that the
Fair Housing Act and Title 24 in California both recognize the need and require
that the doorbell (if there is one) and the audible alarm be hard wired so that
a visual alarm can be added, or a visual doorbell can be added. In existing
housing, there is no requirement that housing built before 1990 comply with
these kinds of regulations, but a tenant can make these type of reasonable modifications
at their own expense.
Sergio Alunan asked if it was against
the law to evict a tenant who is a hoarder or clutterer.
Mr. Hirsh stated that it is not against
the law to evict a tenant who is a hoarder or clutter, because there are health
and safety regulations that may in violation. Mr. Hirsh suggested that a housing
provider should give the tenant an opportunity to address the problem, which
is a reasonable accommodation, before eviction. Often times a tenant may not
recognize that they have this disability so a landlord has the right to seek
assistance for the tenant. Tenants, who are at risk of losing their housing,
can contact the Homeless advocacy Project, Bay Area Legal Aid or the Mental
Health Association of San Francisco.
Rob Roth, staff of Deaf Counseling
Advocacy and Referral Agency, wanted to know when must a reasonable accommodation
be made for a new tenant.
Mr. Park stated that a reasonable
accommodation could be made whenever a tenant felt they need it.
Share of Costs
Summary
In Home Support Services provide
two main forms of assistance: 1) housekeeping tasks, and 2) personal care.
Most people who receive In Home Support
Services are on federal disability benefits. They pay nothing for the IHSS,
because their income and assets are already very low (as verified by the federal
disability benefit program).
Other people who do NOT receive federal
disability benefits, could still qualify for IHSS without any cost, if their
income and assets are within the amounts set for federal disability benefits.
[i.e. they meet the asset limits of SSI ($2,000 for an individual and $3,000)
and income limits of SSI ($732 for an individual, $1285 for a couple; more for
people who do not have cooking facilities, and for people who are blind.)].
For those people who need In Home
Support Services, but whose income or assets are above these limits, the Share
of Cost program comes into play. As the name implies, they "share the cost"
of the services they would be receiving.
How that cost is calculated is where
many people become confused. But it is a fairly straightforward process. With
one new exception, it is a simple process of subtracting the SSI amount from
the income, and paying the balance.
So, for example, if Ms. Jones is
a single person with a disability whose income is $900 a month, she would subtract
the SSI amount for her category (person with a disability and cooking facilities)
of $732 from her $900 income, and the balance, $168, would be what she would
pay each month toward the cost of her IHSS.
That is still the case for all single
people1 whose income is over
$946 a month.
Under a NEW program, however, some
people will not have to pay the Share of Cost. If the person who needs IHSS
services
· needs personal care (not
just housekeeping services), AND
· the person’s income is less
than 133% of the poverty rate,
THEN, s/he receives IHSS services
for FREE.
What does this mean?
For single people, 133% of the poverty
rate is $946 a month. Thus, for any single person needing personal care services,
if their income is $946 or LESS, they receive IHSS for FREE. There is no Share
of Cost.
In the example above, Ms. Jones would
have to pay nothing for her IHSS services if she needs personal care as part
of those services. (If she does not need personal care, then she would still
owe the $168 per month.)
This recent modification to the Share
of Cost program allows a greater number of people to participate. It is a major
step forward in improving the quality of life for many people with disabilities.
The change has also led to some confusion,
because it does not come with graduated payments. If a person’s income is even
ONE DOLLAR higher than the allowed amount, they must pay the entire Share of
Cost.
E.g. If Mr. Hwang has $947 a month
in income, he does not just pay $1 dollar toward his Share of Cost, he pays
$947 - $742 (the SSI amount) = $215.
If you need IHSS services, but you
do not know if you qualify, or do not believe that you could afford the Share
of Cost each month, the Department of Human Services urges you to contact them.
Even if you must pay a Share of Cost,
frequently, being part of the IHSS program saves you money, because it enrolls
you in part B of MediCare. This can translate into major savings in medical
costs.
Call 557-5251 to talk with DHS and
determine whether IHSS services are for you.
1
For couples, the income amount is higher.