DREDF joins ADAPT and activists to defend housing

In the past 6 months, this administration has gone after access to housing and shelter
for disabled people, including those most attacked in our community.

They are trying to divide us, and DREDF refuses.

In May, HUD said it will no longer go after landlords who want to charge fees
or deny housing assistance to someone with an Emotional Support Animal.
Boo! [CROWD BOOING]

Our rights have not changed.

Housing for people with Emotional Support Animals remains a right.

In June, HUD proposed what they call an “Equal Access Rule.”
I can’t do air quotes.
You’ll have to do it for me.
This rule would make it difficult, if not impossible, for disabled people who are gender-diverse to access shelters.

Many transgender people are also disabled.

Transgender people have called DREDF asking for help after being turned away at emergency shelter and left with no option but to sleep outside. Disabled transgender people also experience domestic and intimate partner violence. They need access to shelters.

Housing for transgender disabled people remains a human right.

In August, HUD released what they call – I need air quotes again – a “Best Practices Toolkit: Addressing Homelessness and Addiction through Treatment First.” They did this with SAMHSA and the White House National Drug Control Policy.

This is eugenics.

The toolkit is a blueprint for conditioning shelter and housing on compliance with unjust rules.

It comes at a time when the Administration is calling for expanded civil commitment, abandoning the integration mandate, and refusing to invest in the housing and voluntary services that disabled people actually need.

The toolkit cites Executive Order 14321: “Ending” – we will put in air quotes again – “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets” as the authority and the reasons why they are doing treatment first, instead of housing-first.

That order states that shifting homeless people into long-term institutional settings through civil commitment will restore public order, but we know that’s not true.

We know that we bring public order.
We are public order.
We are the public.

The toolkit defines success as self-sufficiency, meaning housing not reliant on government assistance, measured alongside abstinence and employment.

We know they are setting disabled people up to fail since many of us lose benefits and attendant services if we work and make too much money.

They want us to disappear, to remain in or go back to institutions or worse.

They want us to stop demanding affordable, accessible, integrated housing, but it’s far too late.

We have achieved too much, and we are too powerful and too loud.

[CROWD CHEERING]

We know our worth, and we know we are disabled – not disposable.

A group of disability rights organizations have come together for the Defend Community Integration Coalition.

They worked with members of Congress to get House Resolution 1586 passed this week.

The resolution honors and recognizes the 27th anniversary of Olmstead v. Lois Curtis.

When you get home, we need your help to get more members of the House of Representatives to join this resolution and the Senate to introduce its own version.

Check out the DREDF website.
It’s all over the NICL website.
It’s everywhere.
It’s very easy to find.

Thank you for being here.

Thank you for coming from all over the country to DC.

Your actions, your voices, just your very presence helps me keep going.

I also know personally, when I became disabled, I knew that I would be OK because I already knew that ADAPT existed.

Thank you for fighting for affordable, accessible, integrated housing, for knowing your worth and reminding the rest of the disability community across this country of ours.

DREDF is honored to be in community with all of you.

Reach out to us anytime.

And we’ll keep seeing you in the streets.

Housing is a human right!
Disability rights are housing rights!
We are disabled, not disposable!

Thank you.
Love you!