Chicago Northtown Village
It is important to promote integrated, quality housing solutions for people with disabilities because community living supportive housing developments help to create strong communities and empower people with disabilities.
By Breann Gala and MPC AmeriCorps VISTA Member Kaitlyn McClain - September 27, 2013
On Monday, September 9, 2013, more than 200 people gathered at the New Partnerships and Novel Plans: Housing Solutions for People with Disabilities conference and reception. Attendees and speakers included advocates, service providers, developers and elected officials. The all-day event was an introduction to the world of supportive housing with an overview of the current legislative environment, resident perspectives and insights from those who have been involved with successful projects in the region. The Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC)’s Regional Housing Initiative has provided support and funding for a number of successful Chicagoland supportive housing developments.
The morning sessions focused on explaining the current status of institutionalization and supportive housing for people with disabilities in the State of Illinois. Karen Tamley, co-chair of the Chicago Community Trust’s Persons with Disabilities Fund and commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of People with Disabilities, said that Illinois ranks 49th in the nation in the utilization of community living settings for people with disabilities, even though providing housing in these settings would be only a third of the current cost of institutionalization. She cited affordability, accessibility, and discrimination as the three most common barriers to gaining a unit with supportive services. Marca Bristo, president and CEO of Access Living talked about how many people with disabilities become confined in institutions against their wishes at shocking rates in Illinois. Attendees also got the chance to hear from a panel of current supportive housing residents about the challenges of moving from an institutional setting to a community living setting and the experience of regaining their independence.
In its 1999 Olmstead v. L.C. ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court held that unnecessary institutionalization of people with disabilities counts as discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and people with disabilities have the right to receive services in the least restrictive living environment. As a result of this ruling, three lawsuits were filed against the State of Illinois: Williams, Ligas and Colbert v. Quinn, applying to persons with mental illness, persons with developmental disabilities and persons unnecessarily confined to skilled nursing facilities respectively. All three cases were settled under Governor Quinn’s administration and resulted in consent decrees with institution to community living transition goals. Details about these transition goals can be found in Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA)’s 2012 Annual Comprehensive Housing Plan.
The reality for integrative supportive housing is unpleasant, but there is hope that with the recent court rulings Illinois will provide innovative options for community-based living arrangements for people with disabilities in the coming years. Illinois must grapple with the challenges of increasing the accessibility and affordability of these support programs, developments and services.
One of the keynote speakers, Mary Kenney, executive director of the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA), noted that under the Quinn administration one in five units financed have been supportive housing units for people with disabilities and highlighted IHDA’s online supportive housing locator tool. The other keynote speaker, Antonio Riley, Midwest regional administrator for the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), underscored that all tax-funded developments are now required to have a portion of their units dedicated to supportive housing. He emphasized HUD’s commitment to promoting integrated and quality community-living environments.
The day ended with a panel of key partners in the successful Myers Place supportive housing development in Mount Prospect, Ill. Myers Place has 39 fully-furnished units with support services provided by the Kenneth Young Center. This development is the first supportive housing development in the Northwest suburbs, and it didn’t happen easily. To aid affordability and accessibility, the Housing Authority of Cook County and Ill. Dept. of Human Services committed rental assistance to ensure long-term affordability. The panelists talked about how they overcame community push-back and siting issues along with how they were able to finance the development with tax credits and loans from IHDA, a block grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and additional funding from Enterprise Community Investment, Corporation for Supportive Housing, private debt and MPC’s own Regional Housing Initiative.
Attendees were left with the key point that it is important to promote integrated, quality housing solutions for people with disabilities in our region because community living supportive housing developments cost less than traditional institutionalization, help to create strong communities and empower people with disabilities. Only through successful collaboration will advocates, developers, service providers and other stakeholders be able to utilize available tools and demonstrate how these developments can contribute to broader community development initiatives. At MPC, we are committed to developing these partnerships to accelerate the progress being made in the Chicago metropolitan region.
This event was sponsored by the Chicago Community Trust, Coleman Foundation and Pierce Family Foundation, in partnership with the Persons with Disabilities Fund and the Supportive Housing Providers Association.