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.
