Take a look at your place of residence. If you used a wheelchair, would you be able to get in to and around every room, and have full use of the bathroom and kitchen appliances? If you had a family member with a disability come to visit, would they be able to access your home?
Every year, the ERC receives hundreds of calls from individuals reporting an incident of discrimination. Nearly half of those calls come from people with disabilities reporting violations of accessibility regulations – often because of violations within their own home or potential future home. At the very least, everyone should be able to access the place in which they live. One of the ways in which the ERC promotes accessible housing is through our groundbreaking Multifamily Housing Resource Program (MHRP).
Bringing together the ERC’s Fair Housing and Disability Rights work, the MHRP is a unique collaboration between the ERC, apartment and condominium developers, and accessibility experts to increase the number of residential housing units that are accessible to persons with disabilities. Through staff trainings, policy reviews, advice on “best practices,” and compliance monitoring, the ERC proactively works with developers to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local accessibility laws.
This is no easy task. There are numerous laws, building codes, and safety regulations that must be followed during the planning and construction of apartment and condominium buildings. Many developers, including our MHRP members, have a strong commitment to promoting accessibility, but run into challenges with compliance along the way. Working with people involved at all levels of housing development – from management and architects to design and construction teams — the MHRP continually strives to bridge the gaps in knowledge, policies, and practices so that accessible housing is a reality for all. MHRP membership currently includes nine multifamily housing developers representing more than 500,000 housing units nationwide, and Steven Winter Associates, Inc., a national architecture firm dedicated to accessible design and construction.
This week, as a service to our MHRP members, the ERC launched an on-line training, The Guide to Multifamily Housing Accessibility. This training provides an overview of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) regulations to help raise fair housing awareness and increase legal compliance with accessibility laws. We are thrilled to be using this new method of reaching more learners, putting us one step closer to achieving our goals – accessible housing for all!
It is never too late to address accessibility issues, and everyone can help. If you live in a multifamily building that is not accessible, talk to your management company, or call the ERC to request additional information or to file a complaint. (To learn more about how to contact your landlord regarding accessible housing, check out the ERC’s Apartment and Condo Accessibility toolkit.)
We take pride in working with our MHRP members to improve fair housing in the District, the region, and the country for people with disabilities. We count on you, our readers, to help us continue to defend this important civil right by identifying and reporting barriers to accessibility.
Categorized as Fair Housing
Tags: accessibility, e-learning, fair housing, MHRP
