Written by: Katie Hunt Thomas
Hello and happy new year! Here at the Ability Center, we focus on systems change that
supports Ohioans with disabilities to live independently in the community. Over the years,
we have broken down the concept of independent living to set goals in housing,
transportation, health care, and public access. For my columns this year, I am going to
dissect each of these issues and talk about the Ability Center’s advocacy in these areas.
Access to Housing
Historically, people with disabilities were sent to institutions to live out their lives apart
from society and dependent on those around them. With the advent of the civil rights and
independent living movement, people with disabilities began to organize around
transitioning out of institutions into community- based living. Core to this mission is the
availability of community-based housing for people with disabilities, which means housing
that is accessible, in the community, and has access to supportive services. One cultural
shortcut for this concept is the Aging in Place movement – a push for accessible,
community-based housing where people can remain independent.
Despite the passage of the Fair Housing Act and years of advocacy, suitable housing in a
neighborhood of their choice remains out of reach for many people with disabilities. In
2024, 54.59% of complaints received by HUD regarded housing discrimination on the basis
of disability, the largest of any other category. By another metric, 53% of housing units in
the state of Ohio are in buildings that require steps to enter, a barrier that prevents a
person with a disability from being able to rent those units or, if they do, causes them to be
trapped in their homes.
Because of this, one of our long-term policy goals in the Ability Center advocacy program is
increasing the supply of affordable, accessible, integrated housing for people with
disabilities in our northwest Ohio region.
Over the years, the Ability Center has worked with outside agencies to ensure that their
housing is accessible, advocated for accessible design guidelines for LIHTC and other
agencies that provide funding to developers, educated developers, ensured that housing
accessibiliy requirements under the Fair Housing Act are enforced, advocated for changes
to laws to make modifications easier and worked with individuals with disabilities to help
find housing and modify it.
This year, we are partnering with the City of Toledo and Mathematica to conduct a study on
accessible, integrated housing in Toledo. The goal is to determine how much we have and
how much we need. We will be using the report to draft a white paper making
recommendations on the next stage of community based housing for people with
disabilties in Ohio. Watch for the study report in May and our recommendations by the end
of the year.
Federal Updates
This year, we will also be watching and responding to changes and budget cuts at a federal
level that might impact the ability of people with disabilities to find housing that allows
them to remain independent in the community. For example, this month, fair housing
protections are under attack as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban development
proposes to rescind its Fair Housing Disparate Impact rule.
The Fair Housing Act is a civil rights act that makes it unlawful to discriminate on the basis
of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability in housing. For
those with disabilities, it is unlawful to discriminate in the design & construction of
inaccessible housing as well as in sales, rentals, lending, and insurance. Most often in our
work, we see the Fair Housing Act require that landlords and other housing providers
provide tenants with reasonable accommodations and reasonable modifications to their
housing. The Fair Housing Act also comes into play in ensuring that developers are able to
develop group homes.
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently came out with a
propose recission of its rule around Disparate Impact, a legal theory stating that a rule can
be unlawful if it has an outsized impact on people with disabilities even if the rule is not
intentionally discriminatory. The Disparate Impact rule has been a part of Fair Housing law
since the 1970s and has helped ensure that housing providers do not create rules that
prevent people with disabilities from accessing housing in the community. We will be
submitting comments on behalf of our network of Centers for Independent Living
recommending that HUD maintain the rule. Watch for our comments in a couple weeks!
Ensuring that people with disabilities can access accessible, community-based housing is
central to the mission of Centers for Independent Living like the Ability Center. Follow our
newsletter and sign up for our alerts to get involved
