Safe housing for the disabled

There's a lack of affordable and accessible housing for people with disabilities in the Grand Falls-Windsor area, according to one activist.

Jennifer Stuckless, an intern at the Department of Human Resources, Labour and Employment, says people with disabilities are last on the list when it comes to affordable and accessible housing.

"I believe a person has a right to choose where they live," she said. "To have disability-related supports, personal safety and respect. But mostly, to be treated as human."

She also represents the Independent Living Resource Centre, which is calling on people to become more aware of the challenges for persons living with disabilities. Some of those include significant challenges in finding high-paying jobs; a lot need some financial assistance from HRLE. That department's maximum rental assistance is less than the average cost of non-accessible housing, said Ms. Stuckless. She added that people with disabilities have to use a disproportionate amount of the income for housing.

Therefore, they have to make the difficult choice between food and shelter, she said.

It doesn't help that the wait time people with disabilities have a wait time of one to three years for accessible and affordable housing, according to Ms. Stuckless.

"Because of the lack of availability housing and long wait times, a person with a disability has to settle for less than desirable housing," she said. "This simply isn't right."

She stated that Newfoundland and Labrador Housing has committed to ensuring that one in every 10 homes built through the Affordable Housing Initiative would be fully accessible. However, Ms. Stuckless explained that if a contractor builds nine apartments in one year and nine the next year, he or she isn't obligated to build an accessible apartment.

"He or she can charge what they want, because there is no cap on how much rent they can charge an individual," she added.

A lot of contractors build seniors' housing units, which tend to be more accessible than standard housing. However, said Ms. Stuckless, they generally don't work for people who have disabilities.

"Seniors need to have low ramps and low staircases," she explained. "But accessible housing has to have wider halls, doorways and bathrooms. A lot of people think seniors' apartments are accessible, but often they're not accessible for wheelchairs."

The next step for the resource centre is to promote what is available for people with disabilities. Hopefully, things will change, but often, she says, groups like hers can lobby all they want and nothing will happen.

In the meantime the resource centre has made recommendations. They include development of a universal design for accessible apartments; incentives to landlords who offer affordable housing; promoting a greater understanding of independent living, and changing attitudes that cause barriers within government departments.