New Report Underscores Housing Crisis Facing People with Disabilities
Every two years since 1998, the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Housing Task Force and the Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC) have published Priced Out, a report which compares the monthly Supplemental Security Income (SSI) of people with serious and long-term disabilities to local U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Fair Market Rents for modestly priced one bedroom and studio/efficiency rental units. This year's report includes a forward by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, longtime advocate for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The recently released Priced Out in 2006 revealed that:
* from 2004-2006, people with disabilities who relied on SSI as their source of income descended further into poverty. In 2006, the average annual income of a single individual receiving SSI payments was $7,584 equal to only 18.2 percent of the national median income for a one-person household and almost 25 percent below the federal poverty level;
* the national average rent for a modest one-bedroom unit climbed to $715 per month -- equal to 113.1 percent of monthly SSI payments (which on a national average were $632 per month);
* studio/efficiency rents climbed to $633 per month -- 100.1 percent of monthly SSI income.
These shocking statistics mean that approximately 4 million SSI beneficiaries with disabilities are shut out of the rental market in every city, town and rural area of the country. For example in the Columbia, Maryland housing market, the federal Fair Market Rent for a modestly priced one-bedroom apartment was 193.2 percent of monthly SSI income the highest level in the nation. In New Orleans, modest studio/efficiency apartments soared to $755 a month a 45 percent increase since Hurricane Katrina. In the rural areas of Nevada, the cost of a one-bedroom unit priced at the HUD Fair Market Rent was $603 consuming the entire monthly income of a single individual receiving SSI in that state leaving a SSI beneficiary totally unable to pay for food, clothing, or out of pocket medical expenses.
As Mrs. Shriver notes, "[H]ow can we possibly expect any individual or family to spend 100-113 percent of their entire monthly income on housing? It is not only mathematically impossible, but morally unconscionable."
Even more shocking is that Priced Out in 2006 found a precipitous and relentless decline in housing affordability for SSI recipients since 1998 when the first edition of Priced Out was developed. During the past eight years, as funding for low income housing programs has been slashed, the cost of a modest one-bedroom rent rose from 69 percent to 113.1 percent of SSI. During that time, SSI income dropped 26 percent compared to the one-person median income.
Priced Out in 2006 strongly recommends that the federal government commit to a multi-year plan to create a minimum of 150,000 new federal rent subsidies for people with disabilities with the lowest incomes. Specifically, the report urges Congress to commit to provide 10,000 new Housing Choice Vouchers and 5,000 new Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities rent subsidies each year for the next ten years.
Every member of Congress, Congressional Committees with jurisdiction over housing programs, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and other relevant federal agencies are given a copy of Priced Out. DPC staff and other members of the CCD Housing Task Force use the report's compelling data to make a case for retaining and increasing funding and reforming housing programs.
Since the report's data is broken down by local housing markets, state and local chapters and affiliates are strongly encouraged to use the report in their housing advocacy. The report can be accessed at http://www.tacinc.org/Pubs/PricedOut.htm.
SOURCE: The Disability Policy Collaboration of the Arc and UCP
