Housing Self-Advocacy for People with Disabilities

1. Housing Self-Advocacy for People with Disabilities Disability and Employment Rights Advocacy Spring 2008

2. What is involved in self-advocacy? • Learning your rights • Keeping a “case file” on yourself • Choosing your battles • Documenting your “business” relationships • Asserting your rights • Enlisting help with you need it

3. Self-Advocacy in Housing • Finding housing • Having a good Landlord/Tenant relationship • Getting what you need from your housing • Leaving on good terms • Asserting your rights throughout the housing relationship

4. Housing Options • Emergency • Renting • Buying • Extra Help

5. Emergency Housing • Public assistance programs can sometimes help and are a good place to start • Social service agencies sometimes have shelter space available

6. Renting • First Steps • Know what you want • Know what you can afford • Know your rental and credit history

7. Renting • It is unlawful for landlords or public housing agencies to discriminate on the basis of disability status • If you are denied housing, you may make a complaint with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing or with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity office

8. Buying • It is unlawful for sellers or lenders to discriminate on the basis of disability status • If you have been refused as a buyer or been denied a loan because of your disability, you may file a complaint with the HUD Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity office

9. Extra Help • If you need extra help to live independently, you may qualify for In Home Supportive Services • If you have a helper, but your landlord or a home seller does not want to permit your helper to stay in your unit, you may file a discrimination complaint • If you need a service animal for help, your landlord must permit it as a reasonable accommodation (but he or she can charge a pet deposit)

10. A good landlord/tenant relationship • Know your lease terms • Keep your landlord informed (if you need a service animal in the unit, if you will have a care giver visiting, etc.) • Put important information in writing • Be a responsible tenant

11. Reasonable accommodations during tenancy • Requesting Accommodation • Explain what you need and why you need it • Educate your landlord about your rights as a person with disabilities • Offer to discuss your request • Be prepared to offer documentation from a medical provider • If you request is denied: • Consider finding a professional advocate • Make a discrimination complaint

12. Types of reasonable accommodations • Physical modifications • Exemptions from tenant rules or lease provisions • Examples: • Permission to wear special clothing in the common swimming pool • Permission to pay rent in cash • Permission to widen doorways or lower countertops in a unit

13. What is “reasonable” • Must be necessary because of the tenant’s disability • Cannot pose an undue financial hardship or administrative cost on the housing provider • Cannot fundamentally change the housing provider’s business

14. Leaving on good terms • Notice • Rental agreements usually include a notice provision and it is usually 30 days • A notice from your landlord is not an “eviction” • Security deposit issues • Leave the unit clean and repaired (if you caused any damage) • Do a walk through with the landlord before you turn over the keys • If you don’t get the amount of the deposit back you are owed, you may sue in Small Claims court

15. Eviction • Eviction means that an “unlawful detainer” action is filed against you in court and: • You did not answer and a default judgment was entered against you, or • You filed an answer, went to trial and lost

16. Eviction process • Your landlord must first give you a notice to vacate the unit (3 days for non-payment of rent or 30-60 days for all other reasons depending on how long you have lived in the unit.) • If you do not give up possession of the unit (vacate and turn over your keys) before the time given in the notice expires, your landlord can file an “unlawful detainer” and serve you with the summons and complaint • You cannot try to avoid being served!

17. Eviction process, cont. • You have 5 days from the day you are served to file an “answer” to the summons and complaint (in the answer you state your defenses) • Within approximately 20 days from the day you file your answer, a trial will be scheduled • At your trial, you can bring witnesses, evidence and argue your side of the dispute • The judge or commissioner will issue a decision

18. Common eviction defenses • Failure of the landlord to accommodate – if you are being evicted because you failed to comply with a provision of your rental agreement and you requested a reasonable accommodation • Habitability – if your rental unit was not “habitable” or safe enough to occupy and you withheld rent because of that • Bad notice – if your landlord didn’t serve the unlawful detainer or the notice properly

19. After eviction • If you are evicted, you may file a “Stay of Execution” to get more time to move out. The judge does not have to grant the stay, but being disabled and needing extra time to pack and move is a valid argument for granting the stay. • Within 60 days of the filing of the unlawful detainer, your credit record will show that your landlord either evicted or tried to evict you • The record of the eviction will stay on your credit report for 7 years

20. Housing rights • Fair housing • A habitable unit • Rights pursuant to the lease or rental agreement • Notice to terminate tenancy without cause (from 30-60 days for private housing, 90 days for Section 8 units) • Hearing rights for Section 8 tenants • Unlawful Detainer process