High rental costs disproportionately harm people with disabilities.
The high cost of living in California is impacting most Californians, and the pain is acutely felt by Californians with disabilities. Californians with disabilities disproportionately live in poverty.[7] Many rely on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) of less than $1000 per month and cannot afford to live in any California rental market without additional subsidy.[8] The state can do more to reduce housing costs by:
- Creating a universal basic rental income program or cash assistance for housing that goes directly to the renter. This reduces the administrative, financial, and other additional costs of providing rental payments directly to landlords while providing greater housing choice.[9]
- Supporting efforts to supplement federal housing voucher programs with statewide voucher entitlement for people making 30% of the area median income or less. Currently, over 50% of California’s Section 8 voucher households have at least one member with a disability.
- Considering a disability rent increase exemption.
California needs to be a leader on disabled tenant rights.
Californians with disabilities often face evictions from their homes, which can have devastating consequences for health outcomes. The state can ensure disabled tenants remain in their homes or obtain one by:
- Requiring the Judicial Council to provide clearer guidance to courts and their ADA Coordinators regarding the obligation to reasonably accommodate individuals and clarify that accommodations must be considered even if they are not requested.
- Repealing Costa Hawkins, which prohibits rent stabilization ordinances for buildings built after 1995. Principles of universal design and the use of ADA architectural guidelines for housing remain rare, and the use of these design principles does not predate 1990. Therefore, the majority of housing units that are accessible are also the same units that cannot be subject to rent stabilization. We recommend a strong statewide rent stabilization policy to protect disabled Californians, many of whom are unable to afford the rental market without subsidies which frequently do not keep up with the rate of rental inflation.
- Funding housing transition and tenancy maintenance services.
- Creating a statewide security deposit fund for prospective tenants without rental history or resources.
- Appropriately funding the Civil Rights Department to enforce California’s fair housing laws, particularly around source of income discrimination, which has been illegal since 2020. Enforcement efforts to date have been underwhelming due to a reported lack of resources, despite the existence of widespread discrimination. For example, the State contracted with a fair housing organization to do testing in Los Angeles for Section 8 discrimination. Of 80 properties tested, 47.5% found Section 8 discrimination.[10]
California must stop criminalizing homelessness.
Carceral responses to homelessness are demonstrably ineffective. However, California cities and counties have increasingly passed ordinances seeking to criminalize unhoused people. California is home to approximately 30% of the U.S.’s unhoused population, a disproportionate number of which have disabilities.[11] California should be a leader in responding to this human rights crisis, not by fining and arresting folks, but rather, by focusing on root causes of homelessness, harm reduction, and permanent, stable housing, without the use of force or other means of coercion.
The 2024 Supreme Court Decision Grants Pass v. Johnson ruled that cities can further criminalize homelessness by punishing people for sleeping in public.[12] Governor Newsom chose to embrace this ruling, ordering local governments to sweep encampments without any assurance that people will receive housing.[13]
Sweeps do not solve homelessness. In fact, they worsen conditions for disabled unhoused people trying to find shelter. Sweeps regularly separate unhoused people from documents needed to obtain services, such as their IDs, medications, harm reduction supplies such as Narcan, and mobility aids.[14] Documentation of a recent sweep of an encampment in San Francisco showed several mobility aids, including wheelchairs and a walker, confiscated from unhoused people.[15] This is particularly egregious in light of how few shelters or temporary motels are accessible to disabled people. Unhoused people need housing, not sweeps.
[14] Raphling, John. “Criminalizing Homelessness Violates Basic Human Rights” The Nation, 5 July 2018.