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| Visit-ability | ©IDEA Center , 2004 | |||||
| Contents | Advocacy Strategies | |||||
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Advocacy Strategies Sec.504, Rehabilitation
Act of 1973
Figure 18: An example of a Visit-able home on display at a home show. The no-step entrance easily blends in with the nicely landscaped front walkway. |
This section contains a set of strategies for implementing Visit-ability. These strategies are only ideas for action, not prescriptions. Each one of them requires creative application and should not be viewed as fixed. If advocating for Visit-ability is something of interest, the first step is to get in touch with the movement and find out what is going on currently. Do this by contacting Eleanor Smith or one of the organizations listed on the contact list in the Appendix. If there is a local project in mind, it is best to tap into the network of people who have experience. This will reduce the learning curve and help make the project more effective. Sec.504, Rehabilitation
Act of 1973 (Amended & Recertified 1992) Home of Your Own (HOYO) Hope VI These demolition grants concentrate on replacing or completely renovating severely distressed housing units in large public housing projects while, at the same time, creating mixed income communities. Competitive proposals are made by private developers to build projects on sites of old public housing projects. The program provides incentives for developers to include Visit-ability for townhouses and single-family homes. Consolidated Housing Affordability
Strategy (CHAS) Plan In each jurisdiction seeking to
qualify for federal housing funds from HUD, a CHAS consolidated plan
for federal compliance must be filed. HUD is required by law to solicit
public testimony on its performance and its plans for future programs.
By providing oversight to ensure that full compliance with the federal
law is maintained, advocates can help guarantee that newly developed
housing projects include both fully accessible and Visit-able units.
You can view your local community’s CHAS Plan on the Web through the HUD website: http://www.hud.gov. Sympathetic Developers Parade of Homes and Home
Shows The Americans with Disabilities
Act barely addresses the subject of housing. But parades of homes
and home show models may be considered public accommodations, where
the general public is “invited or expected to attend for reasons
of commerce, recreation, or assembly...” Title III of the ADA
mandates access, at least in part, to all public accommodations. This
fact may open the door for Visit-ability advocates to collaborate
with sponsors to assure the inclusion of at least Visit-able designs.
Demonstrations will serve as educational tools for both the building
industry and the public. Seminars and workshops can be conducted in
conjunction with these demonstrations. - Groups of consumers - Advocates who have disabilities or who would find Visit-ability advantageous - Housing networks and professionals they interact with (i.e. Section 8 and Section 202 housing coordinators locally and statewide) - Local developers - Landlords - Realtors As more Visit-able housing is realized within the community, training that promotes general awareness within neighborhoods might be included. Plan Books
It is surprising how few companies provide most of the home plans used in the home building industry, particularly to small builders who do not have the resources to develop their own designs. If these companies can be persuaded to include Visit-able models in their books, the demand for and supply of Visit-able homes will grow. Some argue that if all plans in these books were Visit-able designs, the battle for making Visit-ability the norm would almost be won. There has been some investigation of this possibility. However, it turns out that changing all plans in current books is an extremely time consuming and costly proposition. It is more realistic to target only the most popular plans for modification and to introduce enough new Visit-able plans so that, over time, demand will increase the proportion of plans that will be Visit-able. Manufactured Housing - Presenting training programs for companies producing manufactured housing, - Organizing presentations and discussions on Visit-ability features through manufacturer/consumer forums, - Developing sessions at national conventions of manufactured housing organizations. Enforcing Existing Codes
and Ordinances In this work, involving the assistance of disability advocacy groups can be very effective because these groups bring many people to public meetings. This show of force gets the message across that there is someone watching and will reduce the number of unnecessary variances granted. After officials realize that advocates are helping them to do their job better, they often develop a cooperative relationship with the advocacy groups, keeping them informed of developments and asking for their assistance in making decisions. This will only happen if the advocates are well informed and constructive in their approach. Financial Incentives The goal of Visit-ability advocates is not merely the re-education of builders, developers and contractors. As Eleanor Smith would say, the goal is “bricks and mortar,” seeing Visit-able features and housing materialize in the marketplace. Therefore, the inclusion of tax and other incentives for builders and developers who include Visit-able housing within their projects should not be discounted as a resource and a tool, especially if it works in the long term by helping to demonstrate Visit-ability to communities which would otherwise not experience it. Sunset provisions linked to adoption of Visit-ability ordinances are one good approach to using incentives because they stimulate adoption of the concept but do not have a long-term negative impact. Legal Action 1) by nature, they are adversarial and therefore detract from one of the primary philosophical goals of Visit-ability, which is to build a community and overcome “us versus them” mentality. 2) Litigation takes time. While court cases go on, non-Visit-able homes continue to be built. 3) Negotiation and advocacy are ongoing processes. A court ruling can be construed as final. However, where lawsuits are pursued, the effectiveness of the contemplated actions must be evaluated, so that each litigation attempted has the maximum chance of succeeding. It should be noted that there has to be a legal basis for a lawsuit. Where there are no Visit-ability ordinances, there is no violation of law due to the lack of Visit-ability. Visit-ability might come into play as a remedy for a Fair Housing, Section 504 or ADA violation. Developers can be offered the option of providing Visit-ability to new projects as partial compensation for violating accessibility codes in previous projects, where an extensive innovation of those projects may not be feasible (e.g. condominiums owned by their occupants). Regulatory and Legislative
Advocacy One of the most direct approaches is to promote specific changes to building codes and zoning ordinances. Efforts are underway to revise the International Code Council model code for single-family homes to include a no-step entry requirement. Changing model codes is a lengthy and time-consuming process. In this case, the International Code Council holds public hearings around the country where advocates can support or oppose provisions on the agendas. This process requires careful preparation and submissions prior to announced deadlines. Often, attempts to change model code requirements are less successful than efforts to pass legislation because the model codes are developed by professional bodies who are not dependent on votes to maintain their positions. In the legislature, support can be obtained from members who share perspectives on the issue and want to help their constituents. However, the process of legislative advocacy is an especially difficult one. Most elected representatives have their own beliefs about housing and/or about disability, which may or may not be well informed. Therefore, it is important, during any advocacy effort, to stress the universal design aspects of Visit-ability. Advocates who can show that Visit-ability provides generalized design advantages to the entire community will be more likely to convert supporters for the legislation among citizens who can then help convince local representatives. Another strategy for winning approval of legislative initiatives is the development of two bills rather that one, either at local or state levels. The first would cover projects funded by public funds and the second would cover privately funded projects. There are two reasons for this strategy. The first is to bring the issue to a wider audience. Focusing on publicly funded projects does not raise awareness in the wider community. But the argument for Visit-ability is easier to make in the public sector. Having a companion bill for the private sector extends the debate to all citizens and builders even though it may be a much harder bill to get passed. Second, developing two proposals provides the flexibility for advocates to negotiate a compromise by withdrawing the private sector bill if there is a lot of opposition to the public sector proposal. The private sector bill can always be brought back in the future. Representatives in alliance with the housing industry, which generally opposes all attempts to regulate housing, vigorously contested a proposed Texas state ordinance. Advocates in favor of Visit-ability had to come to the Visit-ability debate in Texas armed with specific facts. They refuted the arguments raised on both the cost and the space needed to provide Visit-ability point by point. It is important that advocates organize and prepare well for such debates. Establishing coalitions with other interest groups, like tenant associations or neighborhood redevelopment associations, urbanists and sustainable development groups, can help to gain widespread support. It is critical to plan testimony by many groups of people to demonstrate that there is widespread interest. Lining up members of the legislature who have family members who are disabled is a valuable tactic as well. They are more likely to understand the value of such legislation. If you are interested in pursuing legislative housing advocacy, there are many groups that can be of assistance. Chief among these are Concrete Change, local and regional independent living centers (more than 400 nationwide) and the Disability Rights Action Coalition for Housing chapters. If you are new to legislative
advocacy, we highly recommend that you coordinate your efforts with
organizations which have substantial experience in this area. Most
of them organize legislative initiatives each year. For example, associations
of independent living centers generally develop an annual legislative
agenda to inform representatives of current needs and priorities of
disabled constituents. |
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