Agenda - Planning Commission - 09/04/2014

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Last revised July 24, 2014 • Increase access to information about housing options • Actively promote and encourage providers to implement best -practices and person -centered strategies related to housing Because of the typically low income of households with one or more members with disabilities, publicly funded housing often connects housing investments and people with disabilities. For example, in the state's large stock of project -based Section 8 properties, households with disabilities are disproportionately represented, with 21 % of units occupied by households with a non -elderly person with a disability (compared to 10% of the overall state population).18 When these properties are rehabilitated or modernized, accessibility features are often included to ensure compliance with federal and state statutes and to better the living experience for tenants with disabilities. When new properties are constructed, public entities often require that a specified percentage be designed to accommodate people with disabilities and furthermore that the recipient of funding affirmatively market the units to prospective tenants with disabilities. Funders, architects, and others are also increasingly embracing "universal design," a set of design strategies and features intended to make it easier for residents to live in, and for guests to visit now or in the future, even as households move fully through the life cycle. Universal design features include having at least one step -free entrance to the property, designing units for single floor living, ensuring doorways and hallways are wide enough for persons with disabilities to move about freely, positioning controls and switches so they are readily reachable, and use of task lighting directed to specific areas. Despite the significant progress made in housing persons with disabilities, however, there is little information available on whether units designed to accommodate households with disabilities actually end up being inhabited by such households, what happens as units "turn over" to new occupants, and the incidence of persons with disabilities living in non -accessible units and "making do." Better tracking these potential mismatches and bolstering affirmative marketing plans and requirements so that people with disabilities actually live in units intended for them may be wise next steps. In addition, ensuring that households facing challenges to mobility —both in terms of where they live and where and how they move from their homes to work, shop, attend school, or access needed services —demands particular care and attention as pertains regional investments in transit and community development. Council role • Encourage the use of flexible or universal design principles in projects funded through the Livable Communities Act. Local role • Offer local homeowners access to rehabilitation loan or grant programs that finance the retrofitting existing housing to better meet the needs of people with disabilities. • Encourage housing for people with disabilities to locate in places with access to amenities and services. 18 Putting the Promise of Olmstead into Practice: Minnesota's 2013 Olmstead Plan. 2040 HOUSING POLICY PLAN I METROPOLITAN COUNCIL DRAFT RELEASED FOR PUBLIC COMMENT Part II: Outcomes (Equity) I Page 32