Disabled
in Fairfax Given Priority for Accessible Housing
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By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 14, 2002; Page C01
The priority system, a first in the Washington region, took effect last month
when the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority changed how it
allocates "affordable dwelling units," or ADUs.
For many disabled people, finding a place to live is "the first hurdle
to being a contributing member of society," she said.
Bonnie Conrad of the Fairfax Area Disability Services Board said:
"There's a huge need for affordable housing and an even stronger need for
accessible affordable housing. Without housing, you really can't do anything
else. Employment, health care and transportation options are all based on where
we live."
At a public hearing last month, the housing authority noted that under
existing regulations, people with disabilities "do not receive a priority
to purchase or rent ADUs with special accessibility." So the panel amended
the rules to give households with one or more physically disabled members
priority to buy or rent an accessible ADU.
Applicants must meet moderate-income requirements and, in the case of ADU
purchases, be first-time home buyers. Preference will be given to those with at
least one child under 18, the housing group decided.
The new policy not only increases the opportunities for disabled people to
buy or rent affordable homes, but ensures that such features as wheelchair-wide
doors, ramps, lowered light switches and countertops, and raised toilets go to
those who need them most, the authority said. The policy also could
"encourage other developers to build accessible housing," it said.
Developers in Fairfax are required to set aside a portion of new housing for
two categories of people with moderate incomes -- defined as up to 50 percent
of the median Washington area income and up to 70 percent. A single person
earning $32,000 or less annually, for example, could qualify under the program
for an efficiency apartment renting for $667 a month. For a family of four with
income less than $45,750, the rent for a two-bedroom apartment could be as low
as $858 a month. Prices for first-time home buyers range from the mid-$60,000s
for a condominium to less than $125,000 for a town house.
The aim of the program is to allow people such as starting teachers and
police officers to find homes in the relatively wealthy communities they serve.
Other Washington area jurisdictions, including Montgomery and Arlington counties
and Alexandria, have similar programs, but none gives priority to the disabled.
Federal law requires developers to include accessible units only in
multifamily buildings. Of the 852 ADUs offered for sale in Fairfax since the
program started seven years ago, 85 percent have been town houses, which are
typically not accessible for the disabled.
Before the new priority system, disabled people on waiting lists to rent or
buy low-cost housing had to join a lottery for available ADUs, and those units
with accessibility features could end up going, by "the luck of the
draw," to non-disabled people, said Patti Schlener of the county's
Department of Housing and Community Development. For every new offering of a
few ADUs, more than 200 people typically apply, she said.
The priority system was proposed after community activists in the Lorton
area asked real estate company KSI Services Inc. to include accessible ADUs in
its planned 500-home Lorton Valley project west of Interstate 95. KSI was
obligated to build at least six ADUs there but was not required to make them
accessible.
Nevertheless, the company agreed to the request, designing a
"quadruplex" of four accessible ground-floor units and a duplex, both
resembling single-family homes. The Vienna-based firm plans to start
construction on the 130-acre site this spring and complete the project in three
or four years.
Although the developer stands to lose money on its "prototype"
accessible ADUs, "this is something we wanted to do," said Richard
Hausler, president of KSI. "It's something that comes with being a member
of the community."
After agreeing to build accessible ADUs, KSI joined the Federation of Lorton
Communities, a group of more than 30 homeowners associations, in lobbying
Fairfax for a priority system for the disabled.
"This was a pretty big oversight that we've had," said Lynwood
Gorham, a former president of the federation. "To a lot of people, it was
just common sense."
The change came too late to help Moseke, who was unable to find a place
under the county's ADU program but bought an accessible condominium on her own
last year. Disabled with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis since age 3, she works
for ENDependence, an Arlington-based advocacy group for the disabled, and
chairs the Lorton federation's accessible housing committee.
"We're going to work with developers . . . to ask them to put in a
certain number of single-family homes with these accessibility standards,"
she said.
Barbara Gilley, a disabled Alexandria resident who heads Disability Housing
Advocates of Northern Virginia, said KSI's example has given her hope.
"There's now attention focused on resolving some of the problems of
accessible, affordable housing," she said. "In the next few years,
we're going to see some dramatic changes."
© 2002
The Washington Post Company