Housing options and challenges for residents with disabilities
Housing accommodating people with disabilities is a multi-faceted issue with both barriers and opportunities. Accessibility, availability, affordability, and an alphabet soup of agencies, initials, and acronyms are among the obstacles that face anyone trying to navigate the system, with the public and private options each having their unique challenges and benefits.
On the government side, The Beaufort County Department of Disabilities and Special Needs has had among its duties the responsibility for assisting people with disabilities to gain life skills and work skills toward reaching potential, reaching goals, and pmaximizing independence. They provide Medicaid eligible clients with housing options such as apartments with clients agreeing to their own roommates. These options can include a Community Training Home (CTH) or a Supported Living Program (SLP). Organizers emphasize treating adult clients as adults and allowing everyone adult choices. Prospective clients may apply for and receive Medicaid benefits in one of multiple programs that allow the recipient to work and earn at various levels. Several types of Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) waivers are also available to provide resources to enable people to live more independently in the community
For those who are already in a position to pursue home ownership, there are homebuyer education programs in the area teaching home ownership skills and arranging affordable mortgages. Programs are not all specifically targeted to people with disabilities, but the education and the favorable financial terms that may come with joining these programs have helped people with disabilities to afford home ownership.
Habitat for Humanity states that a qualifying factor for a Habitat home is lack of accessibility in the current living arrangement. Some home buyer programs particularly designed to assist people with disabilities can have restrictions, so it is a good idea to look carefully at the details of these programs.
When looking at all of the interconnected elements that go into living a life of maximum freedom, it is difficult to address one element such as housing without it spilling over into other areas.
A crusade that has been growing for decades and which brings living options and other elements together is the demand that services be available in a community-based setting and in the least restrictive environment possible. This movement, spearheaded by advocates with disabilities alongside nondisabled allies, was affirmed with the 1999 Supreme Court decision in Olmstead v. L.C. In response to a complaint by two women in Georgia who were being forcibly institutionalized despite community-based resources being recommended and desired, the Court ruled that institutionalizing a person with a disability when there are feasible community-based resources the individual wants and could benefit from is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
For years, South Carolina has been one of just a handful of states without a formal plan for implementing the requirements of Olmstead. The state took a step toward changing that in April when Governor Henry McMaster signed S.2 into law, as heralded by the advocacy group Able SC on their website. This legislation creates the SC Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, merging the Department of Mental Health, the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, and the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services. The law also establishes the role of Director of Community Integration. According to information from the State of South Carolina website, the new cabinet level department will be tasked with ADA compliance and with creating a plan to implement the requirements of Olmstead.
Channing Heiss is a freelance writer and a member of the Beaufort County disAbilities Coalition.
