President Barack Obama has launched “The Year of Community Living,” an effort to assist Americans with disabilities, instructing HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan to “work together to identify ways to improve access to housing, community supports, and independent living arrangements.”
The announcement was made on the tenth anniversary of the Olmstead case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the unjustified institutional isolation of people with disabilities is a form of unlawful discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
An announcement from Sebelius issued the same day indicated that she was taking various actions at HHS in support of the new initiative, including the creation of a new HHS Coordinating Council “to put in place solutions that address barriers to community living for individuals with disabilities and to give people more control over their lives and the supports they need.”
She also said she would direct additional funding toward the HHS Aging and Disability Resource Center Programs (ADRCs), which are a collaborative effort of the Administration on Aging (AoA) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and intended to provide a “one-stop shop for consumers for long-term care information, assistance, and access to services.”
HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan
HUD announced, in turn, that it was making available $30 million in voucher assistance to provide housing support for 4,000 non-elderly disabled families, including 1,000 vouchers that are targeted specifically at people who are transitioning out of nursing homes and other institutions. Notably, these 1,000 vouchers directly satisfy an ongoing demand from ADAPT.
Some individuals and organizations expressed a tempered optimism regarding the new initiative.
Chris Hildebrant, Director of Advocacy for the Center for Disability Rights, opined in a June 23 blog post that while the initiative contains many positive points, it still fails to eliminate the institutional bias in America’s long-term services and supports.
Denika Boardman, systems change coordinator for Central Coast Center for Independent Living in California, called the initiative a “positive development” in a July 2 column for The Californian, but said that “many people with disabilities have little to celebrate on this anniversary” of the Olmstead decision, since California’s catastrophic budget crisis is resulting in cuts to “nearly every community support service people with disabilities need to live independently.”
But President Obama expressed resolute optimism even as he acknowledged the long delay in achieving full independence for individuals with disabilities.
“The Olmstead ruling was a critical step forward for our nation, articulating one of the most fundamental rights of Americans with disabilities: Having the choice to live independently,” he said. “I am proud to launch this initiative to reaffirm my Administration’s commitment to vigorous enforcement of civil rights for Americans with disabilities and to ensuring the fullest inclusion of all people in the life of our nation.”
