>> MICHELLE UZETA:  Hi, everyone.  Welcome to our webinar on How Reasonable Accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act Can Help Unhoused People with Disabilities.  
	As Diana mentioned, my name is Michelle Uzeta, and I'm the Deputy Legal Director at the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, or DREDF, as we're commonly known.  
	For those who don't know me, I have been a disability rights attorney for 30 years, focusing primarily on litigation under the ADA and the Fair Housing Act.  
	For those unfamiliar with DREDF, we are a national law and policy center, located in Berkeley, California, that is led by people with disabilities.  
	Our mission is to advance the civil and human rights of people with disabilities through legal advocacy, training, education, public policy work and legislative development.  
	Before I introduce you to our panel, I want to mention that the question and answer function is open for this webinar and we encourage folks to pose questions as the webinar is happening.  We have over 400 people registered for this particular webinar so we may not get to all of your questions but I will answer as many them as I can during the hour, and we maybe able to address some live at the end of the presentation.  
	Now I'd like to introduce our panel.  Erin Nguyen Neff is a staff attorney at DREDF.  They began their career as a tenant lawyer for the Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn, where they defended families at risk of eviction from some of the worst landlords in New York City.  
	Erin has also worked as California Rural Legal Assistants and the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, where she was the lead policy attorney for their housing program.  
	Erin went to American University Washington College of Law.  
	Also joining us is Jason Seres.  Jason was formerly homeless for 12 years and is a staunch advocate for the unhoused.  While unhoused, Jason helped create the first city‑sanctioned camp in Nevada and was instrumental in creating other city‑sanctioned camps in Marin County such as Sausalito now San Rafael, and last Robbie has been both a plaintiff and a nonattorney legal helper.  He recently helped pro se ‑‑ for encampments under the 42 United States Code ‑‑ sorry, under 42 United States code. 
	1983, and the ADA in the cases of Boyd versus City of San Rafael and Rivera versus the city of San Rafael.  So now I'll pass it to Erin.  
>> ERIN NGUYEN NEFF:  Hi.  Thank you all so much for joining our training.  We are really excited to be presenting this.  So to go over the agenda real quick, so you can see the road map for the training, this is going to be a little bit more of an introductory training, and it's meant to kind of be understandable both by attorneys and non‑attorneys.  And all sorts of people who are advocating for unhoused people.  
	So we're going to go through a little bit about what is the ADA, what is a reasonable accommodation, or also known as a reasonable modification.  And examples of it, how it can be used in the context of an unhoused person living in an encampment, as well as an unhoused person living in a shelter or like a safe camping site.  
	And we're also going to go over the sort of logistics and step by step process for requesting a reasonable accommodation.  Then I'm going to bring in Robbie and Jason to talk about their experience in San Rafael when we're going over the examples of reasonable accommodations.  
	We'll go through the process, how a city might respond to it and then we have some hypotheticals that if we have time we'll go over, and then there will be some time for questions at the end.  
	So first, just a quick overview.  What is the Americans with Disabilities Act?  This is a federal law that makes it illegal to discriminate against people with disabilities.  
	Some of the information that I'm going over today might have other laws that are also applicable like fair housing laws, but since we only have an hour, we're focusing on the ADA.  And we're going to be focusing specifically on Title II.  Title II of the ADA covers activities done by local and state or city governments.  
	And we'll go into more about like what that means and what that looks like.  
	Title III of the ADA covers public accommodations, so these are generally like hotels and restaurants that are run and managed by private entities.  Title III might also cover some of the information that we're talking about today, for example, shelter for unhoused people run by a non‑profit is likely under Title III.  
	So I wanted to point that out, but we're really focusing on Title II of the ADA today, so specifically activities that are government activities of the local government.  
	And just to point out that under Title III, for anyone sort of helping unhoused people in a shelter run by a non‑profit, or other private entity, that one thing to look out for is just if it's a religious organization, a church or something like that, they may be exempt from the Americans with Disabilities Act.  
	So some of the stuff I'm talking about today might not apply to shelters run by religious organizations.  
	And to the extent that we're focusing on Title II, a lot of the things I'm saying will also apply to private entities, but there's some small differences.  So, you know, you might want to kind of look into that separately if you're dealing with unhoused people working with non‑profits.  
	So what is discrimination include sort of generally?  We're going to be focusing a lot on reasonable accommodations, but obviously the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination in general when it comes to people with disabilities.  
	So this is sort of a very broad list of what that might look like.  So if someone's trying to access benefits or services from a government, they have the right to be able to have effective communication with whoever government employee they're working with, so this could be like having an ASL interpreter or having captions available or having certain materials written in bigger font or something that makes it more easier for people with disabilities to access.  
	Discrimination also includes providing services that may seem mutual that may end up having a discriminatory effect, giving different eligibility criteria, so if someone's trying to access, for example, like unemployment benefits but there is a different process for people with disabilities that might make it harder on them, that would also be disability discrimination.  
	And failure to maintain accessible services under the ADA, there's some exceptions, but the physical structure of a place that a person's receiving government services in needs to be accessible, and, of course, accessibility is not just the physical structures, but accessibility for different types of disabilities, as well.  
	Okay.  So what is a reasonable accommodation?  So in the context of the ADA first, sometimes the term is reasonable accommodation, sometimes it's reasonable modification, and some other laws, there's a difference between those two terms, like in Fair Housing Law, but in the ADA they're used fairly interchangeably.  
	So what it means in sort of broad strokes is making a change, and again, this is ‑‑ we're going specifically to Title II.  So making a change in the way a city or state or local government is providing a services or benefit.  So this could be a change in a policy that makes it easier for people with disabilities to participate in this.  
	And we're going to go over specific examples of that throughout the presentation.  
	And in McGary v. City of Portland, to use this as an example, in this case, there was an individual who had AIDS, who was being hospitalized as a result of their AIDS, and the city had given him a notice of abatement for debris in his yard, and gave him a specific time for him to remove the debris in his yard that he couldn't comply with because of his disability.  
	So he had asked for a reasonable modification to essentially give him more time.  He was in the hospital during the time period in which he had to remove the debris, and the city of Portland did not give him that additional time, and that led to a lot of negative consequences, and he had to sell his home as a result.  
	So in that situation, the reasonable modification would be getting that additional time in the policy where the city requires you to remove the debris within an allocated amount of time.  
	So a reasonable modification can also be a change in the way a city or state law works so that the law is not harder on people with disabilities, even if it's neutral on its face.  
	A reasonable modification also applies to health and safety regulations.  So in the case of Crowder v. Kitagawa ‑‑ apologize if I pronounced that wrong ‑‑ this case involved people who had seeing eye dogs, people who were blind, who had come in to Hawaii, and Hawaii had a policy that any dogs coming in to Hawaii had to go through quarantine for 120 days.  
	Now, for a person without a disability who their dog is there not for ‑‑ to provide a service or emotional support, or as a seeing eye dog, it might not be a problem to keep your dog in quarantine for 120 days.  But clearly for a person who is blind, who relies on a seeing eye dog to move around, this is a huge burden on them.  
	So even though the law didn't specifically call out people who are blind, the law had a negative impact on people who were blind, so they had the right under the ADA to a modification of the 120‑day quarantine so that they could get their dogs sooner because of their disability.  
	And then we'll go through some examples more specific to unhoused people as well.  
	Now, the government has what's called an affirmative obligation to provide modifications.  So unlike other provisions of the law, where it might be sort of to a loose discretion, the government has an affirmative obligation.  So if a person has a disability and they need the accommodation or modification to avoid discrimination, then it's the government's responsibility to provide that.  
	They can't say no if the accommodation is reasonable and necessary for the person's disability.  
	So one question that kind of comes up in talking about this is what exactly is a government service of program under Title II that a person can ask for reasonable accommodation during?  
	So it's very, very broad.  It essentially can be almost anything that a public entity does.  So in Barden v. Sacramento, the ninth circuit said anything a public entity does, in this case it was specific to maintaining sidewalks.  The maintenance of sidewalks was considered a service program and activity of the government.  So therefore they were required to keep it maintained under the ADA.  
	The ADA, or services programs and activities of the government also apply to police activities.  So this includes being arrested, encampment clearings, and other services that unhoused people might receive from city or local governments are also considered a service and program activity of the government.  
	So this could be support and receiving services in looking for housing, supportive housing services, case management services.  Again, if these services are provided by private non‑profit, that would come under Title III of the ADA, but generally they're still required to provide reasonable accommodations in that situation, too, if they're a private non‑profit.  
	And then it also applies at shelters, safe camping sites, safe parking programs run by the city or government.  These are all considered services programs, activities of the government, where the government's required to provide a reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities.  
	So one thing we're focusing a lot on today is how the ADA can help people who are unhoused in encampments and in shelters.  So as I mentioned, an encampment suite is considered a service of the government.  And to illustrate this, I just want to talk a little bit more about the case of Cooley versus Los Angeles.  
	In this case, this case was brought by some unhoused people who were living in an encampment in L.A., where the police force had come in to clear the encampment, and one of the plaintiffs in that case asked for additional assistance in moving their belongings because they had a physical disability that made it very difficult to move their belongings in the time allotted by the police.  
	The police did not give them that additional time.  Her belongings were thrown away as a result, and her request for a reasonable accommodation for assistance in moving her belongings was denied.  And the Court held that the clearing of an encampment, an encampment sweep, is a service or benefit of the government, and that specifically that time that the police have had to comply with the requests from the police, and to move her belongings. 
	Was a service of the government.  By not providing that reasonable accommodation, she couldn't comply with that.  And the Court cited the case we mentioned earlier, McGary, where the individual with AIDS requesting more time to clear the debris from its home.  
	So clearing an encampment is also a benefit and service of the government.  And something like requesting assistance in moving belongings would be a reasonable accommodation.  
	So here's examples of reasonable accommodations for people living in encampments.  And this obviously is not an exhaustive list.  This is just some that come up very often, and, you know, for people working directly with unhoused people, I really encourage you to be creative and thoughtful about the reasonable accommodations that you're requesting because there isn't really a limit if a person has a disability and the accommodation is going to help them while they're in the encampment.  
	So I think the most common one is more time to move after receiving a notice to vacate.  And we'll talk about that a little bit more later.  Assistance in moving the items like we just talked about in the Cooley example, changes in time or manner of moving the items.  
	Some cities have like Daytime camping laws where people have to take down their items really early in the morning so maybe asking for a reasonable accommodation of that law or policy to change the time of day that you're moving it.  
	Especially care for medical equipment or medication, you know, if someone has a wheelchair, they might need assistance in moving that.  Unfortunately there have been situations where encampments are cleared and people's wheelchairs have been thrown away.  Some people need refrigeration for their medication, they might have medication in a cooler or something like that.  
	They should be able to request an accommodation to keep their cooler with them to ensure that medication and cooler is not put in storage or thrown away.  
	As well as requests to stay in certain locations.  We've helped people with reasonable accommodations like that.  People would have maybe a mobility disability and are currently camping near their doctor or a treatment center and they're being required to move.  You can ask for a reasonable accommodation to enable them to stay there so they can access medical services more easily.  
	So in addition to reasonable accommodations, the government is also required to provide other additional help to people with disabilities.  So effective communication an auxiliary aids.  So that generally will be maybe providing an ASL interpreter, maybe providing some sort of captioning service so that when a police officer or social worker is interacting with an unhoused person, whatever they're communicating is being effectively communicated.  
	So this would include, for anyone in an encampment, before an encampment is cleared, they should be receiving some sort of notice of that.  That's required under the Constitution.  But notice needs to be effectively communicated.  So, you know, that might require notice to be printed in larger printing or something like that as well.  
	In addition, the government must ensure that people with disabilities are getting proper information.  So ‑‑ excuse me, proper information on accessible services, activities facilities.  
	So if someone is clearing an encampment and there is multiple shelters that they could go to, which, unfortunately, there's probably not usually more than one option, but if there is, more than one option, and one is accessible and the other one isn't, the government's required to notify people with disabilities of the accessible shelter, what are the accessible aspects of the shelter and how they can actually get those services.  
	Okay.  So in the shelter context, so when I'm talking about shelters here, it's not just sort of a physical shelter for unhoused people, but this could include safe camping sites, safe parking sites, certain sanctioned camps stuff like that.  
	Just as a side note, certain fair housing laws might also apply to shelters.  Sometimes it depends on how long a person can stay at the shelter, might depend on what fair housing law applies, but something to look in to further if you're advocating for an unhoused person who is accessing shelter services.  
	So if there are bathrooms, those bathrooms must be accessible.  Some cities provide transportation to shelters.  If that's the case, then they also need to provide accessible transportation, vans and whatnot, that are able to transport people in wheelchair, or people that require special transportation.  
	Some examples of reasonable accommodations, a person can ask for in the context of a shelter that come up often is one, allowing service animals or emotional support animals.  And to clarify this, you know, a service animal is generally sort of like a seeing eye dog, is generally a trained animal to help a person with a disability, but there's also emotional support animals that don't necessarily need to have the same training but provides emotional support.  
	Oftentimes for a person with a mental health disability.  So a lot of shelters may have a no pet policy, but they should provide a reasonable modification of that policy to enable people with disabilities to have their support animals or service animals with them.  
	Requesting a particular type of bedding.  So this could come up, you know, a loved shelters have cots.  A lot of like safe camping sites might have bedding that's very close to the ground, and that doesn't work with everybody.  So people who might have back problems, certain physical disabilities, they can request a reasonable accommodation to have a different type of bedding that's not going to cause them more pain.  
	Another example I thought of that I didn't include in this slide is also the amount of things that you can bring with you.  A lot of camps and shelters will limit unhoused people to maybe one or two bags.  If you need additional items because of your disability, certain medical equipment, things related to treatment, things related to your emotional support animal, if you're bringing an animal, you probably need one bag just for food and stuff for your animal.  
	And then you would need an additional bag for yourself.  You should be able to ask for a reasonable accommodation for that as well.  
	A lot of shelters are congregate shelters so they have a big space for everybody.  So some people who might have anxiety disorders or other disabilities might require private space, even if that's not normally provided.  That would be another reasonable accommodation.  
	Also, having someone who is providing care to you, this could be a friend or a health professional requesting accommodations so that they can stay with you in the shelter, stay near you in the shelter.  And then accommodations in bathrooms or showers, there should be bars and supports in the shower as well.  
	So how to make a reasonable accommodation request.  So let's get into like the practical aspects of it.  
	So it's going to be different, probably, depending on where you are.  Some cities will have a specific Web site or process where you can make a request online.  Every city is required to have an ADA coordinator to help with reasonable accommodations and other ADA issues.  
	But they might not necessarily be easy to find, unfortunately.  Unfortunately it's not always just a simple Google request.  And with that being said, you don't only have to make a reasonable accommodation request to ADA coordinators.  You can make a reasonable accommodation request to anybody.  
	So if a police officer is telling you need to move from your encampment, you don't have to wait and find the ADA coordinator.  You can make the request to the police officer.  
	The request can be verbal or in writing.  You can make the request right then and there to a police officer.  You don't have to use the term "reasonable accommodation."  It's helpful if you do, but if you forget, you don't have to.  You just need to make clear that you have a disability, what the accommodation is and how the accommodation helps you.  
	And then a request can be made at any time, even in the moment that you need it.  And we'll go over sort of a little bit more tips on that as well.  
	So just the bare basics of what you should have in an accommodation request, obviously you want to have your name.  You want to have a way for the city to identify who you are, and a way for the city to contact you.  
	So if you're doing a written request, you're going to introduce yourself, give them a phone number or E‑mail.  If you don't have a phone number or E‑mail, the location of where you could be found, the cross streets of that.  You can also include a friend or an advocate or attorney's phone number or E‑mail.  
	The request doesn't have to come from the unhoused person specifically.  It can come from a friend or an advocate.  You should state that you're a person with a disability.  You don't have to give your exact diagnosis if you don't want to.  You can.  You want to describe a little bit of your disability so that it's helpful in understanding the accommodation that you need.  
	So you want to explain the accommodation like more time to move, and then connect the disability you have to that accommodation.  So if you have, for example, arthritis, and that makes it difficult for you November the items you have in an encampment, therefore you need more time because you can't comply with the notice to vacate that says you have 24 hours.  
	So that's a connect between that disability and accommodation.  And then at the end of the request, you want to give the person that you're contacting a way to get back in contact with you and give them a time line.  
	There isn't a specific, like, you know, day, you have to give someone like 24 hours or 48 hours or something like that, but it's helpful to give a time line because one, in some situations, you need that accommodation fulfilled right away.  But also, you want to make it clear when, you know, when you expect to hear back so that you can, for your own purposes, understand when you can expect the accommodation.  
	Now I'm going to turn it over to Jason and Robbie and they're going to talk a little bit about the experience in Camp Integrity and the reasonable accommodations that they've been requesting.  
>> JASON: Thanks for having us, Erin.  
>> ERIN NGUYEN NEFF:  Thanks, Robbie.  
>> ROBBIE: We have a pretty semi‑permanent injunction in central San Rafael for Camp Integrity and we've been going through the ADA process for that.  It took us about ‑‑ people were evicted from Albert's Park last year, and then we set up a new camp site and started paying for a port‑a‑potty there and it took us about nine months of just the camp being there for the city to finally pay for the port‑a‑potties.  
	And once they did that, we did ADA requests.  We had some people that were in schoolers, wheelchairs ‑‑ scooters and wheelchairs, and had them provide us wheelchair accessible bathroom.  But one thing that I think I really want to report on people is how important the ADA claims have been for our state created danger claims.  
	So in the Boyd case right now, we have basically a semi‑‑‑ the preliminary injunction that protects about 56 people, and indefinitely.  And besides that, which was really, had a lot to do with how disabilities were going to be affected by ‑‑ were going to cause danger because the strongest state‑created danger claims from people with disabilities who needed help with getting water, food and bathrooms.  
	And I think that's the big thing that we've seen is that when you combine the ‑‑ you talk about people with disabilities in the context of their environment, about their need for access for food, water, bathrooms, and you add ‑‑ you have to basically show that their camp is situated in such a place that it's necessary for them to survive, you get very robust injunctions.  
	And I think Jason could talk about that part in the Movado case because, you know, he could talk about how your skin conditions and surviving cancer, that all played a role in the court issuing a preliminary injunction that's now comp Cam Passion there, three years later.  
	So I just want to pass that to you, Jason.  
>> JASON: Yeah.  In Camp Compassion in Nevada, California, they passed an ordinance that was very draconian, made everything a critical infrastructure.  If you were to sleep next to a light pole now, there was underground wires, they could criminalize you for essentially sleeping.  
	And so we utilized the ADA to help us with our lawsuit, and, you know, with me personally, you know, I have a severe skin disorder to where I can't regulate my body temperature very well, and I needed to be in a shady area, and our camp that we had set up was in the shade under some trees.  
	I need to be close to a water source.  I needed to stay hydrated.  There is an example of how we use that in our lawsuit to help us with our preliminary injunction and really secure a sanction encampment.  
	Another individual at our camp, her ankle ‑‑ she had a thyroid issues, ankle swelling, and where she needed to be close to a store, a grocery store and a drugstore, which were very close to our camp.  So that ‑‑ you know, those kind of things really help strengthen a lawsuit, and been very persuasive with the federal court rulings in our favor.  
	Once we did get ‑‑ secure our camp, another example of what we used to help somebody at our camp was he had a juvenile arthritis his whole life, he's been suffering from, and so he needed a tent where he could stand up in to change his clothes and get dressed.  And they originally wanted us to put us in two people‑person tents and, you know, with his, you know, disability, you know, we were able to get larger tents.  
	We also, you know, had some people in wheelchairs, and walkers where we needed a bathroom that was ADA compliant, where they had the full range of their mobility, and to get to our service support area at our camp was down a curb.  So we requested a ramp, and the city was able to accommodate that.  
	So not only does it help to, you know, help with lawsuits, you know, these claims, it also helps to improve camps once you've established them.  
>> ROBBIE: Yeah, that's right.  That's right.  I just think that that's important for people to think about, is the disability in the context of the neighborhood.  Think about bathrooms.  Think about food, water, protection, and that's going to put you in a strong position.  
	In terms of ‑‑ I could talk about Boyd versus the City of San Rafael, and I recommend people look at the order in that, which was just issued in October.  The ADA process totally blocked any kind of movement of people with ADA claims who ‑‑ until the interactive process went through, and the City of San Rafael had basically a two‑month procedure, and now it's been almost, oh, three to four months since that order came out.  
	And we still haven't completed those.  Right?  So there's ‑‑ the restraining order is still in effect because we're still going through this interactive process laid out by the city.  
	And that's been very difficult for the city to do because it's basically turned into an entire new program for them, and it's been very powerful.  It's a very powerful claim.  It works well with the state‑created danger claims.  
	And I think what we're glad that Erin is doing this training and we can learn more because the interactive process is a whole art form, as we're learning more and more.  And so I just want to thank DREDF for putting this all together.  
>> ERIN NGUYEN NEFF:  Thanks, Robbie and Jason and, Robbie and Jason weren't a plant just to make DREDF look good.  And if y'all want to stick on in case there are any questions for you all at the end, too.  
	And just to point out that Robbie and Jason bring two good points that are a little bit beyond the scope of this presentation but that I want to touch on, and that's that one, unfortunately, and I'm sure any attorney or activist on here who have tried to request reasonable accommodations would know, is that just because you're legally entitled to a reasonable accommodation and you make the request in the appropriate way doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be granted, unfortunately.  
	Now, that doesn't mean that it's futile, that you shouldn't do it.  As Jason said, they had success in asking for reasonable accommodations, and that kind of brings to the next point in that we don't go over this in this presentation, maybe it will be a training we do in the future, but when a reasonable accommodation is not granted, particularly for no good reason, you do have legal recourse in bringing a complaint, bringing a preliminary injunction to address the fact that reasonable accommodations are not being granted.  
	But sort of focusing back now on sort of the specifics of requesting a reasonable accommodation, I want to include some tips in making that request beyond sort of the basics of what you should include.  I want to keep a record of your requests, you know, make a paper trail.  Again, if you choose to file a lawsuit in the future because of denials of request, these will be really important.  
	Document, you know, the date, the time, who you made the request to, who responded.  A different person might respond to your request.  
	Another tip is, you know, if you are unable to talk to someone directly, post your reasonable accommodation on your tent or another visible place in the encampment so that a police officer or social worker or someone coming by sees it.  
	Make the request as soon as possible.  Unfortunately, with a lot of the way encampments are cleared and swept, they're done very quickly.  In it, be very specific about your reasonable accommodation request.  
	So I've seen some requests that just say I need more time to move.  So you want to be specific because, you know, the city could respond with okay, you need more time to move, we'll give you an extra two hours and that might not be enough for you.  
	So be specific as to the date and time.  
	I would also suggest, you know, instead of saying something like I need an additional 24 hours or 48 hours, again, giving a specific date and time, because if they say okay, you have 24 hours, it might be unclear to both parties, does the 24 hours start from the moment you made the request, from the moment the request is granted?  So be ‑‑ you know, be as specific as possible.  
	And having one reasonable accommodation request granted, or denied, does not prevent you from making another request.  So if you make a request to, I need until December 3rd at 5:00 to move, and then you realize that that is not enough time, you could make a second reasonable accommodation request for additional time.  
	Obviously it would be better to, you know, give yourself the correct amount of time to begin with, but sometimes it's hard to know how much time that you will actually need.  
	So what happens after you make a request?  So the city or other local government is required to look at each case on an individual basis, investigate it and respond to it.  They can't sort of have a policy of, like, any time a person with XYZ disability makes this request, this is how to respond.  It needs to be a case‑by‑case basis.  
	They may engage in the interactive process that is something that Robbie was talking a little bit about.  Unfortunately under the ADA, that's not required per se.  It is required in some other laws that we won't get into today, but ideally the city will be engaging in the interactive process with a person making the request.  
	Now, the city or the police department or whatever government agency may respond with a different type of accommodation.  So, for example, you might make a request that in a shelter to have a particular type of bedding, and not maybe sleep on the floor, which might be the standard.  
	And the people running the shelter or the city can respond, well, we're not giving you that specific bedding that you want, but we'll give you this other type of bedding.  And that's okay.  As long as it's still actually accommodating your disability.  
	They can't give you an alternative suggestion that really does not help you.  
	One example of this also might be if you have an emotional support animal, let's say, for example, it's a German Shepherd and the shelters say well, you know, we'll accommodate you and allow you to have an emotional support animal, but it can't be a German Shepherd because, you know, we think German Shepherds are aggressive.  That would be unreasonable because presumably this would be the dog that you've had for a long time.  
	The dog that's already providing you with emotional support.  So that sort of alternative suggestion might not be considered reasonable.  
	Now, in making the request, the city may respond, and they're able to respond saying they would like some sort of proof of your disability.  Now, if the disability is sort of obvious on its face, you're in a wheelchair, you have cochlear implants, you don't really need to offer proof.  
	If it's not obvious, there are a lot of ways in which one could offer proof.  It doesn't necessarily have to be, like, here is a record showing a diagnosis.  It could be a doctor's note that is sort of saying in general you have a disability.  You need this accommodation.  You can show proof that you receive SSI.  You can get some other documentation from a social worker or other health professional other than a doctor.  
	You can show proof of veteran benefits, showing medications or prescriptions or something to show that you are a person with a disability.  
	And to an extent, that might be difficult to provide that information.  You might want to also consider a reasonable accommodation in that context.  You need more time to provide that information.  You need accommodation to be able to provide, you know, if they're saying I need a doctor's note, well, you know, I don't see a doctor regularly, but I see this, you know, occupational therapist regularly who can attest that I want an accommodation to be able to give you that documentation.  
	So reasons why a reasonable accommodation might be rejected.  So one, it's kind of in the name.  If the accommodation is not reasonable.  So as an example, it's often that people want more time to move from their encampment.  Unfortunately, that doesn't ‑‑ you can't really have, you know, unlimited amount of time to move.  So I think most cities would respond to a request for six months to move an encampment as being unreasonable.  
	Whereas maybe a few extra days or a week would be considered reasonable.  Any reasonable accommodation or modification request that fundamentally changes the service, benefit or activity that the government is providing could be a basis for rejecting a reasonable accommodation request.  
	So the example I provided here is, you know, there are some shelters that provide special services beyond just having a place to sleep, but then there's some shelter that are like this is a place to sleep, to be out of the elements for a night.  
	A reasonable accommodation request that a shelter that just provides a place to sleep also provide therapy services because you have a mental health disability, that would more likely than not fundamentally change the service that the shelter's providing because they don't provide mental health services.  
	If a shelter does provide mental health services, but, say, most of the practitioners that they have there don't ‑‑ maybe don't have experience with people with schizophrenia asking for a reasonable accommodation for getting a therapist who has experience with schizophrenia, that probably would not be considered fundamentally changing the services because they're already providing mental health services.  
	Another reason why a reasonable accommodation request might be rejected is if the person is considered a direct threat to health or safety of others.  What does that mean?  
	So if someone's considered a direct threat to health or safety of other people in a shelter, to the people working there, other people in the encampment, to the police, that is assessed in a very narrow way.  So each person needs to be assessed individually based on their personal characteristics, based on current medical knowledge, and based on a current assessment.  
	Determining that someone is a threat can't be based on stereotypes or assumptions.  So unfortunately, the rhetoric that we hear a lot is about unhoused people with schizophrenia or other serious mental health issues that people just assume that they're going to be violent or dangerous.  
	So you can't say, well, this person can't get a reasonable accommodation or can't stay in the shelter because they have schizophrenia.  That would be discrimination, and you can't assume that they're dangerous because they have schizophrenia.  
	There also needs to be a probability that an injury would actually happen.  So ‑‑ and what does that look like?  So what is the risk that injury would happen?  How long would it last?  Has it happened before?  How bad is this injury that could potentially happen?  
	So, for example, a person who might yell all the time and threaten people but who's never actually acted on any of it or been physical or damaged ‑‑ injured anybody or damaged anything, is probably not going to be a threat to health and safety.  
	And then one big thing to remember is that a reasonable accommodation could eliminate or alleviate any threat to health and safety.  So a reasonable accommodation, if there is one that would help, should be implemented before rejecting a reasonable accommodation because one might be a risk to the health and safety of others.  
	So, for example, for some people, their disability might make it very difficult for them to be around other people.  They might get agitated around other people very easily, but putting them in a private space might alleviate some issues that could cause a situation to escalate.  
	So in that situation, that accommodation should be provided before it's determined that that person is a direct threat to health or safety.  
	Okay.  So that is the basics of the reasonable accommodation.  Because we have 12 minutes left ‑‑ well, let's do this hypothetical real quickly and then we'll see if we can do it in two or three minutes, and then we'll have some space for questions.  
	So the hypothetical is that a local law requires people who are unhoused to remove their belongings from a public park every day by 7 a.m.  Chris, an unhoused person, who sleeps in the park, has physical limitations and requires additional time and assistance to move their belongings.  Chris has a friend that can help them move at 10 a.m.  
	What are Chris's rights in this situation, if any?  Is there a potential violation of the ADA?  And how would you proceed in helping or supporting Chris?  
	I guess we hadn't really discussed this before, but Diana, are people able to raise their hands and answer the hypothetical?  
>> Diana is no longer here, so you may want to go ahead and walk through the answers.  
>> ERIN NGUYEN NEFF:  Okay.  So sorry we couldn't make this a little bit more participatory, but so Chris does have rights in this situation.  They have physical limitations, so they can't move at 7 a.m.  And they have a friend that can move ‑‑ that can help them move, so this is a lot like the Cooley versus L.A. case that we talked about earlier.  
	So if they are sort of forced to move at this time without being provided a reasonable accommodation, this could be a violation of the ADA, and how you would proceed in helping Chris is requesting a reasonable accommodation to a police officer or an ADA coordinator to say, I need until 10 a.m. to move my belongings, or probably 11 a.m., if they can start moving their belongings at 10 a.m., because I have a physical limitation and I have a friend coming to assist me at 10 a.m.  
	So that sort of in broad strokes would be the reasonable accommodation request.  Obviously you kind of want to go through the details I was mentioning earlier, like your name, give them certain time to respond.  So depending on when they received this notice, they might say I need a response by the end of today.  Respond to me by using this E‑mail, and, you know, giving specifics of I need until 11 a.m.  
	So I think we can open it up to some questions.  And then if you have questions, you can just put it in the Q&A box.  And then I think Michelle already answered a bunch them.  But Michelle if you want to let me know what questions to answer, if any.  
>> MICHELLE UZETA:  Sure.  Here's one.  If you requested a reasonable accommodation in the form of cancelling a sweep altogether, do you think that's likely to be rejected on the basis that it's unreasonable or fundamentally changes the government's service?  And Robbie actually just posted an answer, which is, it would depend on the totality of circumstances, access to bathrooms, water, protection are all factors.  
>> ERIN NGUYEN NEFF:  Yeah.  So I would say it might depend.  It sounds like, from the question, that you're requesting cancelling a suite for everyone in the encampment.  You know, some of the encampments are small, so if you have ‑‑ sort of regardless of the size, if everyone in the encampment has a disability and the city is about to sweep them all and they've only given them 24 hours and everyone has a mobility disability, you can make a request kind of like that.  
	I do think it would be relatively difficult to completely cancel an encampment sweep without something more than a reasonable accommodation.  I think complete ‑‑ unfortunately, I mean, obviously what the law says isn't what I would like, but I think completely cancelling a sweep would probably be unreasonable.  
	I think delaying a sweep for everybody can be done if everyone has a disability.  I think in that situation, the best practice would be that everyone requests a reasonable accommodation, and they can request on behalf of themselves and the entire encampment.  
	But I think the thing is, you have to give a reason why the entire sweep should be cancelled and how that's connected to your disability.  
	So it would ‑‑ so I think that that would be a little bit difficult to explain, unless maybe like again, like, sort of the location of where you are is relevant to your disability.  And then obviously the situation would be very different if you ‑‑ you know, you're living in a city that has some sort of injunction or something like that in place.  
>> I would just give an example of a recent case we just settled, Rivera versus City of San Rafael, there was an ADA request where it basically, there is an elderly gentleman with very serious disabilities, anemia, dementia, and he was located in one of the only places in San Rafael that has access to a water spigot, nearby bathrooms, 24‑hour bathrooms, and a library and electricity.  
	And that restraining order, it's been almost seven months and there's no plan of clearing him.  So I think that's where, if you look at ‑‑ you gotta think about well, if your reasonable accommodation is I need to be close to a place near water, or I need to be near a bathroom, because I have, you know, trouble controlling my bowels, well, where are the bathrooms in the city?  Where's those places?  
	If that's the only place in the city where you have those life‑sustaining resources, then you're more likely for that accommodation.  And I don't know if ‑‑ you're more likely to obtain an injunction.  And I think it would be a reasonable accommodation.  So I think that's why it's like think of like a fact‑intensive inquiry into, like, what's accessible to your client.  
>> ERIN NGUYEN NEFF:  Yeah.  And I'll just say, like, if you're not sure you should always just request a reasonable accommodation, because the worst thing that could happen is that they say no or don't respond, and then you're in the same position that you were in anyway.  
	So I would make that accommodation, but I think like Robbie was saying, like, you really need to give a reason why you need that particular location and why it applies to everybody.  And unfortunately, you know, I think particularly if a camp is big enough, you'll probably have some people without disabilities and unfortunately they wouldn't be able to request a reasonable accommodation.  
	Are there other questions?  
>> There's a raised hand, and I assume it's from Jay Elden who also put a question in the chat which is how do you prevent officials or police from using persuasive arguments to prevent reasonable accommodation, for example, they knew we cleared the park at 7 a.m., why did they sleep here last night.  That's kind of how do you prevent water from being wet question.  Yeah.  
>> ERIN NGUYEN NEFF:  Yeah.  So unfortunately, you know, the police aren't always going to follow the law.  The city is not always going to follow the law.  So I would say, you know, a police officer that's saying well, you should have known that we were going to leave, like, they're discriminating against this person with a disability.  Right?  They have the right to ask for a reasonable accommodation.  
	Even if they knew beforehand.  I mean, that's kind of like the whole point of a notice, right, is to let the person know that it's happening, just because you give someone a notice doesn't prevent them from asking from a reasonable accommodation.  
	So obviously it also doesn't prevent a cop from being a jerk about it.  So I don't know if that really, like, answers your question, Jay, but that is ‑‑ yeah, I would say they're engaging in discrimination in that situation.  
>> MICHELLE UZETA:  I just want to go back to the question.  We've gotten a couple of questions about whether or not you can stop a sweep from happening altogether with a reasonable accommodation theory, and I had put an answer to one of the questions posed, a link to the decision, in the where Do We Go Berkeley versus Cal Trains case, which is an interesting case to read whether you're an attorney, advocate, layperson.  
	Because in that case, they did seek to stop the closure and movement of an entire encampment, and the judge in that case found that there didn't need to be individual proof that everybody in that encampment had a disability and that it was kind of understood that folks who were living in the encampments probably did have a disability.  
	So, you know, that, and the fact that the obligation to provide accommodations is an affirmative one, meaning, if the need is obvious, you really shouldn't have to request it, but it always is a good practice to.  Like cities and counties are supposed to offer accommodations to people they know may need them.  
	So the judge found that there was no need for individual proof of everybody in the encampment having a disability in order for them to advocate to have some delays in having to move.  
>> ERIN NGUYEN NEFF:  Thanks, Michele.  Thanks for adding that.  
	>> MICHELLE UZETA:  I also if I could really quickly, I did want to add a couple things on service animals.  The ADA protects people with disabilities and allows them to have their service animals with them in shelters.  
	But unless the shelters are also covered by fair housing law, which will depend on, you know, how long somebody intends to stay there, whether they treat it like their home, that sort of thing, whether they have some place else to go, emotional support animals generally are not required to be in a shelter under the ADA.  The ADA does not require any public accommodation to permit an emotional support animal.  
	Doesn't mean you can't request it.  And some shelters may allow you to have it, but it may not be required under the ADA.  And I also wanted to add that service animal does not have to be formally trained.  So the training that Erin mentioned earlier could be done by the dog handler.  
	So if you have a service dog that picks up items for you, and you trained the dog to do that for you, that's enough.  You have the right to be accompanied by that dog.  
>> ERIN NGUYEN NEFF:  And again, so, like, when in doubt, if you just make the request, and, you know, see what happens.  
	So we're at time.  It's 1:00.  This is Michelle and I's E‑mail on here.  If you have any additional questions that we didn't get to.  We do trainings like this all the time, so check back with our Web site at DREDF.org for additional trainings.  And then you should be receiving an E‑mail from Diana if you're an attorney who needs MCLE credit with an evaluation and your MCLE certificate.  
	Thank you all very much for your time.  I hope this was helpful, and enjoy the rest of your day.  
[End of transcript.]