Research Paper on Disability Housing Discrimination: Illegal, Unfair, and Unacceptable

Introduction

Housing discrimination is a criminal offense punishable by law. People with disability have undergone some form of discrimination either directly or indirectly. However, Federal Fair Housing Act 1968 protects disable people from any form any form of discrimination that may arise as a result of race, religion, disability or national origin (Mehdipanah, Ramirez, Abedin & Brown2). Disability housing discrimination takes place when purchasing a house, renting or leasing as well as financing a residence. Many state and local governments have developed policies that protect people with disability from discrimination. They should have equal opportunities like other people as the law states. Regardless of the laws, people with disability experience housing discrimination in various contexts as the research paper discusses.

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Disability-Related Housing Discrimination

Disability discrimination takes place in different contexts, including the medical set up. Before admitting a patient in a healthcare facility or nursing home, they are required to provide all information about their medical records, including any form of disability. The applicant assumes that the hospital personnel intend to use the information to improve the quality of services provided, but this assumption is wrong (Carlson 23). Nurses and administrators in such facilities use the details of the patient to calculate their specialized needs and compare the level of profits they can get from the patient. For example, in the private sector, rarely use the information for care planning, but assess if they can admit the client.

Facilities tend to deny admission to patients that seem less profitable depending on their needs and expectations. For example, they limit entries of people with physical disabilities since they require specialized treatment and facilities. They may not have adequate facilities for disabled people, and this is a form of indirect discrimination (Carlson 4). The cost of spending on disabled people is high, and healthcare facilities have realized that applicants can raise viable claims that could damage their reputation. Therefore, they reduce admission of disability by having limited facilities like housing that can accommodate them. In this regard, healthcare facilities engage in housing discrimination by failing to put in place adequate features in their houses to support people with physical or mental disabilities; hence they may be denied admission to some institutions.

Moreover, research shows that people with mental disabilities get evicted from their houses because of many reasons related to their limitations even though they do not directly confirm that they are discriminating people with limitations. Landlords evict them quickly without considering they have disabilities. Under the law, disabled individuals in society have special protection and should have reasonable accommodation failure to which they can raise viable claims against their landlords. It is a gross violation of the law when landlords evict their tenants based on mental illness, but they must understand the law, especially special protection of people with disabilities (Carter 122). However, courts in the US continually fail to protect the interests of people with disability by failing to amend the Fair Housing Amendment Act of 1988 as well as Americans with Disability Act. These acts have not become a reality for tenants suffering from mental health issues. In most cases, courts rubberstamp evictions of people with disability, and they do not spend their time to investigate claims of the tenants and their unique requirements. In this regard, evacuations from rental houses amount to disability-related housing discrimination.

The well-being of people with disability depends on social factors like affordable housing and equality. Housing instability is the primary source of stress worsening their mental illness. Many studies have found that people with stable housing have fewer mental health complications and recurrence of their mental health conditions. For example, a survey of the Chicago rental market suggests that most disabled people faced problems of inquiry regarding their abilities in 2005 (Carter 125). Participants indicated half of them were asked to provide information about their mental or physical disabilities. Research into their abilities intends to gather information about tenants, and use the information to rent the house to people with disabilities or not, but in most cases, landlords deny houses to people with disabilities. While discrimination devastates all people, disabled people should have special treatment. A 2007 study shows that over 2.6 million working people with mental illness lived in poverty (Carter 125). The same research shows that disabled people live in poverty; hence, they do not have adequate finances to own their houses. Therefore, landlords contribute to housing discrimination since not many of them intend to lease their homes to disabled people.

Moreover, housing discrimination is one problem facing the US even after passing the Fair Housing Act. Research shows that almost 4 million people face discrimination regarding rental houses in the US, and a majority of them include people with disability. However, not many people report the cases; hence, the number of housing discrimination victims could be high. In 2014, reported cases of housing discrimination were 27,000, but it could be higher since some of them are not published (Friedman 5). However, the highest level of perception is racial and ethnicity. There is discrimination between blacks and whites, although it has reduced over time. 53% of black residents live in metropolitan areas. In the process, they do not have access to quality housing for disabled people (Friedman 5). For example, disabled black people do not access quality housing facilities like whites leaving away from metropolitan areas. This form of segregation has contributed to high levels of disability discrimination between blacks and whites in the United States.

The rights of Americans with disabilities have changed since the introduction of Americans with Disabilities Act1990. Disabled people in the US access public services and programs like other because of the support programs the government has put in place in public entities to ensure accessibility of the services. For example, public institutions are designed in a way physically disabled people access offices as well as the use of sign language for better communication (Kovacs & Gordon 8). Most importantly, disabled people access government services without any challenges since the introduction of the policy. However, the disabled community feels that the government has not done enough to change their lives so that they compete effectively with others in communities. For example, most private entities have not fully complied with the disability act since they have modified their buildings and office equipment to support employees with special needs (Carpusor & Loges 936). On the contrary, individuals with unique needs expect that public offices should not isolate disabled people in the workplaces instead they should make reasonable housing adjustments to support people with unique needs.

In the 2002 census, 51 million Americans had some form of disability, representing 18% of the population. Out of the disabled people, 52% were aged more than 65 years. These disabilities hindered the physical movement of people from one place to another. People with physical disabilities require special features so that they can quickly move from place to another (Smith, Rayer & Smith 293). However, the design of most buildings in the US such as churches, offices, and rental houses did not have features like zero-sep entrances as well as wider interior doors for smooth movement of people with disabilities. The investigation shows that almost 90% of buildings in the US were not accessible by people with disabilities. In this regard, there is a gap between disabled and non-disabled houses, and a majority of disabled people are disadvantaged. These statistics show that there is disability housing discrimination in the United States (Pager & Shepherd 188). Although the disability act protects people with unique needs, it has not been fully implemented since there are still buildings that have not been adjusted to meet the requirements of individuals with special needs.

Protecting Disabled People From Housing Discrimination

The first policy the government should implement is protecting disabled tenants in subsidized housing. Subsidized housing aims to protect disabled individuals with unique needs who cannot afford market rates (Pager & Shepherd 182). As indicated from the above research, most people with disabilities are poor; hence, not all of them can afford prevailing market rent rates. Therefore, the courts and the government should uphold the rights of people with disabilities by protecting them against evictions from subsidized housing with adequate facilities for people with disabilities (Carter 127). Tenants should have rights to be informed about the justified cause of removal, and they must follow procedural rights based on state or local law. Other reasons include the rights to be given adequate notice so that they plan well to exit the houses. The authorities should meet these requirements when evicting tenants.

Moreover, tenants must have a right to be heard so that they can explain and defend themselves. The authorities must examine and justify the cause of their actions upholding the legal rights of tenants, taking into account reasonable requirements of disabled people. Tenants should present their evidence and present witnesses if they feel they should not be evicted (Carter 128). The entire process should be justified by taking into consideration the special needs of disabled people. At no point should the decision to remove disabled people from subsidized houses be based on their abilities since it will lead to disability discrimination.

Additionally, tenants with disabilities should be guaranteed additional rights. Authorities must define disability before securing favors to disabled people. For example, in some circumstances, mental illness can be considered a disability, but there must be evidence to ascertain to which it affects normal operations of an individual (Carter 130). The authority should stop unjustified evictions from subsidized houses since it helps to meet the needs of disabled individuals. It is worth to note that there must be a reasonable adjustment for disabled people to fight discrimination against people with unique needs. Discrimination protected characteristics include disability, race, religion, and culture, among others (Carpusor & Loges 935). Therefore, the government should uphold the interests of discriminated features like disabled people.

Finally, courts must weigh individual rights against evictions. The establishment of Americans with Disabilities Act was a significant milestone in upholding the rights of the disabled community. There is no better way to fight against housing discrimination without enabling disabled individuals to be independent in the broader community (Carter 127). However, these services can be possible if disabled people are willing, and there is a reasonable accommodation in society. Therefore, the courts must make decisions supporting independence by empowering disabled people to do things the best way they can without depending on others, and this will improve their economic status.

Conclusion

Legislation regarding persons with disabilities determines the trend and the rights they enjoy. There must be policies that protect their rights, and every private and public institution must adhere to these policies safeguarding the rights...