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Monday, November 07, 2005

The Habitat Company Unresponsive to Disabled Needs

I'm a resident of a St. Louis Housing Authority apartment And for the last 2 years I've been battling to get an appropriate number of accessible parking spaces. I was able to get 21 spaces marked by going through The Housing Authorities Directors office. But was unable to get an assigned space specifically for wheelchair bound drivers.

Now on under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 HUD's web site says under

What is a Reasonable Accommodation under Section 504.

"A "reasonable accommodation" is a change, adaptation or modification to a policy, program, service, or workplace which will allow a qualified person with a disability to participate fully in a program, take advantage of a service, or perform a job. Reasonable accommodations may include, for example, those which are necessary in order for the person with a disability to use and enjoy a dwelling, including public and common use spaces. Since persons with disabilities may have special needs due to their disabilities, in some cases, simply treating them exactly the same as others may not ensure that they have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.
In order to show that a requested accommodation may be necessary, there must be an identifiable relationship, or nexus, between the requested accommodation and the individual's disability. As discussed in the next question and answer, what is reasonable must be determined on a case-by-case basis. However, experience has shown that the following examples are often reasonable accommodations.
· A federally assisted housing provider has a policy of not providing assigned parking spaces. A tenant with a mobility impairment, who has difficulty walking, is provided a reasonable accommodation by being given an assigned accessible parking space in front of the entrance to his unit." this info is at.

http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/disabilities/sect504faq.cfm#top

I gave this information to my leasing office over a week ago and have not been given a responsee.
The Habitat Company at one of our meetings told the residents because our building was originally an elderly building, "They were going to take care of the Elderly before the other people in the building" and under the ADA the Elderly and disabled are considered the same Equally and their can be no distinctionn between the two groups. My next step is to file a federal complaint with HUD, and I'm considering going to the ACLU to do this.

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