Homelessness is a growing dilemma in the United States. When we think of people becoming homeless we envisioned individuals who are addicted to drugs, addicted to alcohol, sex offenders unable to find work or place of residence, and other criminals in the same situation. Rarely do we even contemplate the growing number of individuals and families who have lost everything from layoffs, jobs ending, lack of employment, an economy failing, a country more interested in GREED, than its people. Rarely do we even imagine the huge population of homeless Disabled Individuals and Veterans with specialized equipment such as Wheelchairs, Powerchairs, Mobility Scooters and their Service Dogs. Rarely do we image the increasing homelessness being created by Landlords, Property Managers, Management Companies simply because they dislike a tenant fighting for their accessible rights, fighting for repairs, and fighting for other Landlord / Tenant issues. No, these images do not come to mind to the general population and is ignored by those in position to assist in either stopping the madness or in resolving it with positive solutions.
Below are two stories about such a situation. The first story is about a Homeless Veteran with a Service Dog and how the System is further abusing him be disallowing entrance to a homeless shelter and all because he has a Service Dog. The second story is about two Multi-Disabled Individuals, one a Veteran with a Mobility Scooter and Service Dog, the other Physically and Mentally Challenged in a Powerchair and a Service Dog about to become Homeless because a Property Manager and its controlling Management Company is refusing to renew their lease out of spite as they have fought long and hard for the accessible modifications and accommodations they now have and were about to continue to receive from Habitat for Humanity.
First Story Written By: Susan Hutchison
According to an Asheville Citizen-Times article, Corey Bracken, 32, a Navy vet was involved with a dispute with the Veterans Restoration Quarters, an overnight shelter for homeless veterans. The shelter refused to admit Bracken in with his dog, offering to find a kennel instead. Bracken refused to be separated from his dog.
"The VRQ can accommodate service animals that are properly registered, but having dogs at the shelter, located in a former motel off Tunnel Road, can be problematic because men initially are sharing a room with three or four other veterans," said Scott Rogers, executive director of the Asheville-Buncombe Community Christian Ministry, which operates the VRQ.
According to the ACT article, Americans with Disabilities Act says service dogs are not required to carry registration papers. From the ADA FAQs “...such documentation generally may not be required as a condition for providing service to an individual accompanied by a service animal. Although a number of states have programs to certify service animals, you may not insist on proof of state certification before permitting the service animal to accompany the person with a disability." Facilities can exclude an animal when its behavior poses a “direct threat to the health and safety of others.”
Bracken, hurt his knee and back in a work accident while working in maintenance at a truck stop 17 months ago and has a card showing his dog is registered as a service dog with United Service Animal Registry. He says he showed this card to shelter staff, the VRQ disputes that version of events.
Second Story Written By: Renegades Foundation
This story is equally despicable as these two Multi-Disabled Individuals (one a veteran), with Power Driven Devices for ambulation and Service Dogs, still, at present, have a home, a meticulously clean and organized apartment. However, by the end of this very month they will be among the homeless. They will loose everything they owned...everything. The streets will become their new abode, where they will die. Why? Because their property manager has threatened them over and over again that if they complained about needing accessible accommodations and/or accessible modifications to anyone then property management would not renew their lease. These Disabled Persons needed an Accessible Sidewalk Crub Cut for their Powered Mobility Devices, they needed a mail box by their apartment door as the building mailboxes were not accessible to them, they needed a more accessible path from their patio to the sidewalk (70 to 90 feet worth of a path) so that during the snow, management would shovel back there and not keep them trap in the apartment during the winter months as in the past and during the rain the power driven devices would not sink into the grass, while trying to get to their medical transportation or to the Shopping Plaza across the street from the apartment complex.
Well, the promise was kept by the property manager and upon learning that Habitat for Humanity had received funding and the now the actual paperwork process was to begin, requiring a lease renewal, she handed a letter to the Multi-Disabled Individuals which stated that the lease would not be renewed with no further explanation. When questioned, she became quiet hostile in her attitude and hung the phone up on them.
At the end of January, two Individuals with multiple disabilities and power driven mobility devices and Service Dogs will join the ranks of the the Homeless with absolutely no place to turn and thus surely die in the streets nearby. They have informed Social Services who also turned them down for any assistance as they have power driven devices and Service Dogs and did not qualify for any help, not even a hotel/motel or shelter. They were told they were on their own. Yes, you heard me right...they were told they were on their own, NO HELP AVAILABLE for them.
