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Housing provider agrees to make units accessible

Most of the names in these stories have been changed to protect privacy.

In 2004, Grady Rankin called the Oakland office because his unit in an appartment complex was not accessible. It should have been, because the complex was getting federal funds under the McKinney Homeless Services Act and the Project-Based Section 8 program.

An attorney from the Oakland office met with the property supervisor. Then he wrote a letter explaining that, because the apartment complex was getting federal funds:

  • Five percent of the units had to be accessible to people with mobility disabilities; and
  • Two percent had to be accessible for people with vision and hearing disabilities.

At the time, only three of the 92 units were accessible. In response, the housing provider agreed to:

  • Make one more unit accessible for people with mobility disabilities;
  • Make another unit accessible to people with vision and hearing disabilities;
  • Have an architect review all of the accessible units to make sure they complied with Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS).

The resulting report (with pictures) showed that the units did not comply with UFAS. The housing provider agreed to bring them into compliance. That was in 2006.

In July 2007, Mr. Rankin’s attorney talked to a new apartment manager, who said they had no intention of making the apartment complex UFAS compliant. In their opinion, they did not have to comply with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
So Mr. Rankin’s attorney filed a complaint with HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. With that, the housing provider agreed to:

  • Make all the recommended modifications within 90 days and
  • Submit a compliance report to PAI (now Disability Rights California) within 180 days.

Finally, after four years, Mr. Rankin and a few other tenants have proper access to their apartments and the surrounding area – access they should have had all along.