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Washington, D.C.--- Just to be sure HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson got the point that ADAPT wants HUD vouchers for people transitioning out of nursing homes and institutions into community living, ADAPT delivered the message simultaneously at Jackson's home in Alexandria, Virginia, and HUD headquarters in D.C. The strategy paid off when Secretary Jackson came down to HUD plaza to personally meet with protestors, and commit to work with ADAPT on voucher implementation.
"We are pleased that Sec. Jackson did what no HUD Secretary before him has done, namely, come to us in the street, outside the HUD fortress, and pledge to work together to improve the lives of people with disabilities," said Shona Eakin, Pennsylvania ADAPT Organizer. "We have made real progress in recent years getting people out of nursing homes using our own ingenuity, perseverance, and the Medicaid System Change Grants. Our biggest challenge remains finding accessible, affordable, integrated housing for people to move into when they leave the nursing home."
Along with voucher implementation, follow-up with Jackson will also address the problem of affordable housing stock becoming suddenly available, then just as suddenly disappearing, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Many people with disabilities and other low-income people have waited as long as ten years for their names to rise to the top of Section 8 waiting lists in their home communities. As some of those communities have suddenly become home to tens of thousands of survivors of Katrina, thousands of affordable housing units "magically" appeared to help house them. The question is, with so many people with disabilities waiting for that housing, where did those units come from, and why weren't they being used for people who were kept waiting for years? And now that those units are being used to house Katrina survivors, what does that mean for the disability community and other low-income people on waiting lists for housing?
"I've been waiting for a long time for my name to get to the top of the Section 8 waiting list in Atlanta," said Susan Edwards, a Georgia ADAPT member. Before Katrina, Section 8 told me I was number 100 on the list. Since Katrina they told me that I am now number 300, and unless both my parents die it will be a long, long time before I get Section 8. I'm really glad that Secretary Jackson is going to work with ADAPT on voucher implementation for people leaving nursing homes, but what about me? Will I die before my name gets to the top of the list and I finally get a chance to have my own home, too?"
Lack of accessible, affordable, integrated housing remains the greatest barrier to community living for people who are currently warehoused in nursing homes and other institutions. The dearth of housing surpasses even the universal lack of adequate community based services and supports. According to statistics compiled by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, more than 300,000 of the million and a half people in the nation's nursing homes want to move back into the community. That will only be possible with enough accessible, affordable, integrated housing, and community-based services and supports.
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