Maryland: 4 Pioneering Disability Homeownership and Housing Accessibility Resources

Learn how the state of Maryland is one of the best states for disability homeownership.  Intrigued? Join me, Angela Fox, in this insightful discussion as we debunk the conventional reliance on the HUD 203K Rehab Loan and spotlight the unique benefits and flexibility of the Home Ability loan program. This isn't just about borrowing up to 95% of a home's value or the deferred zero-interest rate loan for closing costs, it's about broadening horizons and championing inclusivity in housing for the disability community at the state level. We'll also be delving into the significance of the Rehabilitation Act, a cornerstone civil rights act that has been instrumental in enforcing accessibility in federal programs and resources as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.

But that's not all. As we navigate through the maze of property tax credits, we'll explore the potential of the Design for Life program to incentivize housing developers to build accessible homes. We'll also bring into focus the bold mandate of the Universal Design Housing Act in Prince George's County and its target of making 50% of private housing accessible by 2026. How crucial is an inclusive universal design workgroup comprising individuals with vast experience in accessible housing and an understanding of the intersectionality of different disabilities? We'll answer this and more. You won't want to miss this comprehensive conversation that underscores why Maryland is a beacon of hope in housing accessibility for people with disabilities.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi everyone again. It's Angela Boggs and I am standing in my bathroom because here at Accessibility is Home, we know that accessibility in housing goes beyond the bathroom. I do appreciate everybody joining and today I am going to be talking about why the state of Maryland is the state for disability home ownership. But before we get into a little bit about that specifically, it's important to realize that most states not Maryland, but most states rely on the Housing and Urban Development US Department's 203K Rehab Loan. What is 203K Loan? That will allow individuals to buy a home, pay for the principle of it as well as any rehab such as modifications for the home. It's a great program, but it certainly does have its drawback. I'm not going to talk about that today, but certainly I want everybody to be mindful of HUD is out there and that most states do not have anything state specific. I think it's also important to realize that HUD has always been the steering agency with the United States, at least as far as accessibility housing as a whole. In effect, they have just celebrated the 50th anniversary of the September 26, 1973 Rehabilitation Act.

Speaker 1: 1:33

The Rehabilitation Act is one of the historical civil rights act for disabilities and specifically not because it provided necessarily equality within the mainstream, but rather it was very specific that says hey, federal government, when you have federal programs and resources and when you communicate and your buildings, where you're located at, you need to make sure that those federal programs are in fact accessible, that the disability community can actually gain access, whether it's by the building or by how they communicate. And also, anytime the federal government gives out money to states and other entities, that too has to be accessible. So it was a historical landmark civil rights act. It still is, and in fact, whenever the Americans with Disability Act changes, like it did in 2010, the clause that says the rehab act also had some change. So the rehab act and the ADA, while they certainly do have some major differences between the two ads, they are like twins. In that particular clause, it's super important to be mindful that the rehab act is really important, the hard celebration of the rehab act.

Speaker 1: 2:52

I find it very interesting why I bring it up today. The actual theme is the path, the present and the future of disability rights in housing. So I really want to do a shout out to hard and to create a foundation. Why I'm even talking about a state, the state of Maryland, because, again, most states rely on the 203K loan program to find a loan for the disability community to buy and mark like that homes, but again, not the state of Maryland. And so there are four reasons why the state of Maryland is the state for disability home ownership. I live in the state of Maryland. I'm from the state of Maryland, I'm originally from Indiana. Indiana doesn't have a lot of disability resources available and I initially landed in Alexandria, virginia Shout out to my Virginians but I founded the state of Maryland for many reasons personally, as well as housing, as to why I moved to the state of Maryland when I did move out to the DC area.

Speaker 1: 4:02

So let's begin with number one, the home ability loan program, as the state called it, the state's loan program that allows people with disabilities to actually have a state specific loan. It is a conventional loan, so there's nothing too special about that. But what is special about this particular program is not just that it's targeted people with disabilities, but that it allows you to borrow up to 95% of the value of the home. Most conventional home loans would normally only allow you to borrow 80% of the value of the home. Here for the home ability loan program, it's up to 95%, which is almost a home, and of course you throw that 5% which is your closing costs and your down payment, and so you could get a second loan and a billion, a second loan through the home ability for the closing costs and down payment. It gets what it is zero interest rate. Yeah, you heard me, zero interest rate for the closing costs loan and it is deferred to a life cycle of the actual principal or your first loan that you have to actually buy the house. So, in answers, once you pay off the loan for your house, then you need to pay off that smaller loan for closing costs if you choose to select it or if you sell the house before you pay off the first loan. But it's your interest. So whatever you borrowed, right off the bat, it's going to be the same. Amount is not going to accrue or anything. I think that's absolutely a fabulous program.

Speaker 1: 5:42

Another interesting thing about the whole ability loan is that if you read my book, which is on horizontal housescom, it's also on Amazon, it's called my blue front door, but I talk about disability programs, grants or loans. It's very much targeting low income disability community. So one thing I like about the home ability loan is it doesn't focus on low income. What it says is that whatever house you want to buy, that, whatever is located in that county, they look at the medium salary of that county and your income cannot be higher. So that's pretty cool because that allows a working class to actually take advantage of this particular loan program. If you do FAH low, that's great, but that's focusing for low income and so you may not be low income.

Speaker 1: 6:37

And one thing I always talk about why this disadvantage for the disability community is for housing. Because this whole model of providing resources if you are only low income is used in different fields and different categories as far as assistive, to disability community and other minorities as well. But what is really disadvantage as far as, like you're focusing on the housing aspect, is that what happens if you could afford, like me, I can afford to buy a house, my income is above low income and I could afford to buy a house. But I can't afford to make all the modifications which could be a total gun of the house right, and so that really prohibits individuals who may be off, but then they can buy this house and can afford to modify it, and modifications depending on the disability can be a significant portion of the cost of being able to use the home in the first place. So it really is great that the whole ability program doesn't focus on low income. It focus on the medium salary of that county. So it doesn't even say, hey, what's the medium income of the entire state? It doesn't do that. It gets very specific. It says, okay, where are you buying a house and what is the medium income of that charity? If you don't qualify because just salary is above that it won't show me. You might be able to go to another charity where the medium income is lower. Obviously there's a lot of factors beyond that. But that's provides another opportunity. It provides more flexibility.

Speaker 1: 8:22

I use the home authority low program when I bought the house. It has changed a little bit since I used it. If you want to know what other loan, what other state have Like loans for the disability community, please go to my blog. I will in Oracle a few years ago and you can check that out whether they're fine. 11 other states that have some kind of loan not necessary to buy the home. It could be to modify the whole, but they have some kind of assistance in home ownership.

Speaker 1: 8:54

Number two, second reason why I think mail is is a great thing for this very home ownership. It is their M10, which is the mailman technology assistant loan program. Now when you think you're assistant technology you may be thinking like a computer or TTY machine. It certainly does provide that, but it also provides loans of the home modification. And an interesting thing about that is I will actually serve on the board. And why am I talking about the board? Usually when there are Loan programs, whether it is to a bank or a state, a lot of times it's it has one, two individuals in the review these applications. They usually employees of that entity and that's about it. With m-tap they actually have a board and there are several individuals with disabilities that are Govern appointed by the governor of Maryland to sit on it, and so for four years I wasn't buying to be on the board.

Speaker 1: 10:04

During my term I got these applications. We have people that were state employees. We had people like myself and then we had people in the financial arena and so it really allowed to have a legitimacy of Taking into consideration. Sometimes we got a lot out because where the credit scores was just not that great is or they had these Dead, that they were on payment plans, but they got that then because of the medical reason and has nothing to do with the fact that you know they bought luxury idol, where you go through banks or you go through other Particularly low programs. They don't look at that, they look at the bomb line. It's a. We were able to put a human aspect on it and I really enjoyed being on that board. The reason why I got invited was to my own particular experience. I like to tell you about how sometimes a single voice and raising your hand can actually make an impact.

Speaker 1: 11:04

So what happened was I had bought my house through the whole ability low program. But you know what? I pretty good to my handles. It has stairs. I needed a driveway for my wheelchair lift van. I needed a brand new bathroom to be wheelchair accessible. There was a lot of cost. I had some of the money I could use to pay for the driveway, but the bathroom and the kitchen and everything else I didn't have the actual cash on me and so I want to apply for the Maryland assistant technology low program, or M Tap as we call it. Short.

Speaker 1: 11:46

I found out that it was a whole low equity Program and the problem with that everyone. I just bought my house, right, I didn't have any equity, you know, I'm really old it for two weeks, and I had reached out to them much earlier in the process, you know, before I bought the house, to find out a little bit about it. So it wasn't surprised, and I had even tried to see if they had any additional resources that I could tap into. And nothing happened. And so, out of just pure frustration, I emailed them and said I bought this house after all, and I laid out exactly all the people I had reached out to, the resources. I even had said listen, I'm paying this much for my rent in my apartment that I'm going to be moving out. This is how much my mortgage was, which was significantly less than the amount of rent I paid for month. I laid it all out, and so they said you can appeal to the board. And so I appealed to the board and they did give me an unsecured loan, which was fabulous and the one thing that I also identified with them when I appealed to the board, besides of what I call showing my home look and talking about my financial situation, which are two key things I talked more about in my book.

Speaker 1: 13:21

But I also said listen, if you're just doing a whole equity line of credit, you are going to have a disparts. Excuse me, I'm a lawyer, but you're going to have a dispart or you're going to have more of a negative impact on people with disabilities, who have a physical disability and particularly mobility, and the reason why is that those individuals may, in fact, own a home already but not even able to make really accessible to their needs, versus someone who is mobile, who may have other disabilities, whether it's autism, or those people who are blind, and they may not need as much modifications or any modifications at all. And underneath the law, the states and federal government can't share a pay. Which types of disabilities they are going to affect Hell, and I knew that's why I used dispart treatment. I made that case that if you just made it on a whole equity line of credit and not unsecured loan like you should have for other technology pieces that you do allow, then you're going to allow people who don't have mobility issues be able to use this program, and those who do have mobility probably not. And they agree with me. And so not only did I get my unsecured loan, but they changed the policy to allow unsecured loan For, you know, for those particular situations. And then later on, a couple months later, afterwards, I was asked to join the board and I had to go through a whole process and everything like that. I did change their policy and they do have it on their websites.

Speaker 1: 15:09

I just want to share, not to my own words, but to say this is what happens when you raise your voice, able to the appeal process. That change change. And so how much money can you get? You probably want to know right now. So for a unsecured loan, which means that you don't have equity in your house, you can get up to $20,000 of a loan. And then, if you have equity in your house, at Coversive, you can get up to $30,000 of a loan. So that is really great. And again, that's called the MF, the Mailer Technology Assistance Program.

Speaker 1: 15:51

So number three, another reason why I think that the state of Maryland is great for disability home ownership. But now we're going to be talking at the county level, right? So I gave you two reasons at the state level and we're giving two reasons at county levels why I think Maryland is the best state for disability home ownership. And let's go to the county I currently live in and that is Montgomery County. Montgomery County is the most populated county in the state of Maryland, it has the highest amount of senior citizens and it is also the wealthiest county in the state of Maryland Montgomery County and in Montgomery County they have what's called Design for Life program. It's not alone. Instead, it is a property tax benefit. Beauty of Design for Life is that it's okay. We have about nine different modifications that we think are beneficial to provide both what they call accessibility invisibility people who want to just come and visit in that state who have a disability and then also the actual accessibility for those who may be living in the home. And they have those nine modifications in a pre-bought. So don't worry, they're not specific but they have, I should say, nine categories.

Speaker 1: 17:10

You can share a pick right whatever you want and you can get a property tax credit up to $25,000 of property tax credit. Now this is a big deal for two reasons. I did an article a while back during the President Trump administration who basically really reduced the interest tax incentive the SOLE as they call it and really lowered how much you can write off on your taxes for your interest, which is practically non-executive, and that has really, I have to say, middle income homeowners. All right, since this is a county property tax, it doesn't apply. So they say you know they can offer that. And also because Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest counties in the state of Maryland, the property taxes are higher.

Speaker 1: 18:05

And what really I think is wonderful is that the property tax credit stays with the house. It does not attach to the owner of the house, it stays with the house. And why is this super important? It's because it will allow housing developers who want to build houses in Montgomery County with these modifications. They can now market that house and say guess what? Whoever buys this house, they get this taxless property tax credit right off the bat. We've already applied for it. So it provides an incentive for housing developers to actually build houses that have these modifications. But you know, at the same time, if you own a home already, like I did, you could slowly apply for the property tax credit as well. So it's a wonderful program. Again, it's called Design for Life and that's what Montgomery County only in the state of Maryland.

Speaker 1: 19:09

Next, number four I saved the best for last. You will be hearing more and more on my podcast over the next two or three years more about this because it is ongoing. It's fresh off the present, so to speak. I am super excited. It could be a landmark that I am hoping that it will just explode in the state of Maryland and even beyond, and that is in Prince George's County. And if you all want to know where Prince George's County is in the state of Maryland, it's more southern east coast is, but it's not on the coast itself. It's where the National Harbor is located. The big MDM casino is in. That is part of PG Prince George's County. For a little reference. So the PG charity, pen, the Universal Design Housing Act on September 6, 2023.

Speaker 1: 21:49

I talk to council member Ivy, who's the one that's been working on this legislation for such a long time. It is a historical event. Why? Hopefully you've listened to my other episodes. If not, please do.

Speaker 1: 22:06

But one thing is super shocking to a lot of people is that private sector housing, that is, housing does not subsidize money, is not given by federal or state private sector housing. Now, it is no federal law that requires private sector housing to be accessible. I'll say that again Private sector housing does not have to be accessible. The only caveat people might say what about the fair housing energy, the fair housing energy. Then if it's a multi unit of four units or more so we're basically talking condos, right Then there are a few things, very free things, that need to be included, but that's it. So if you are developing single family homes, town halls, multi family units that are two or three, nothing has been accessible by the federal law, meaning that a housing developer can literally build seven or eight housing in a housing development and nothing has to be accessible as long as the housing development does not take money from a local, state or federal government pre-wild right. So why am I telling you this? To give you some context, why the PEG County Universal Design Housing Act is so important. It now will require, starting in 2020 steps, that 50% of private housing, all new homes, have to be accessible. Yep, yep. So PEG County is saying 50% is only 2026, must be accessible 50%. What we talked about the accessibility it is specific and it does apply to single family homes that are attached, single family homes that are detached, multi-family residential and other dwellings. It does not apply for two over twos. All right, it does require to be accessible. It's that features are for exterior entrances, interior rounds of travel, placement of some controls, switches, electrical sockets, plugs and a bathroom and kitchen on the main level in zero two way. Isn't that cool? Isn't that cool? I know it is obviously not entirely inclusive.

Speaker 1: 24:49

I was able to talk to, like I said, council Member Ivy and I talked to her and she gave me a little bit background about this, about how I came to be, because when I first heard that this was being proposed and the disability community came out to the hearing the AARP, the Independence Now I informed a bunch of other advocates came out to speak as to why it was so important to have this legislation. But she gave me some background because one question I had asked was how did you get this support? So initially this legislation was being proposed and there was well amendment that had to be walked through the legislation, some of them which is technical, legal language and things of that nature. But I said, how did you really get the buy-in? Because oftentimes, subject, federally, there is a legislation that's always being proposed to make it a federal requirement and it always gets stuck in committee. So I asked her how did you get support?

Speaker 1: 25:59

And one is and I do like to mention this because sometimes again, it doesn't feel like how you vote really matters, especially in the turmoil of all the bipolarism politics of the math, which side of the aisle you lie on. But here's an example why it was. There was a lot of new members that joined the council at PG County and there used to be individuals that had a more forward thinking that were disclosed to party because it shouldn't matter and as a result, they had enough individuals to veto any slip. That's done, okay. So you have both. Even at a guilty level, it does matter. Let me say that again your vote, even at charity level, it does matter, it does matter. So here's an example of a great democracy.

Speaker 1: 26:59

Another thing the council member IFA told me, which I thought was just fabulous, pretty cool. I reached out and this is why I love democracy because eventually I worked through her office manager and eventually I got her cell phone number and I talk to her and ask these questions while she's in the car doing her thing. How democratic is that that somebody from another channel take it eventually talk to a council member on her personal cell phone. So I really do think that is a true moment of how democracy can look right. The council member also told me that the Maryland Builders Association is in support of this legislation and I told her well how to get support, because a lot of times those are the individuals now working with housing developers, the Builders Association, where the state you're in and it can cost more to do these things. Now I argue that it actually you will not only recruit your cost but make your house even more marketable and your house will sell more and you make more profit. But if you are not familiar with that, I'll just say this a lot of housing developers may be familiar with the ADA guidelines but they're not really familiar with the disability community, disability home ownership community. They're just not. They don't think people are going to buy these houses.

Speaker 1: 28:35

So I asked her how did you get the Maryland Builders Association support? And it was sheer politics, right and that was. She said she understood some of their concerns that they had initially raised, but brought to attention that because of the new council, one way or the other it was going to get passed. But if they want some compromises and some negotiation on some of the legislation, she had said that she had requested the Maryland Builders Association not just not fight but come out publicly and say that they are in support of this legislation and once they did that during the hearing, then there could be some compromises and, as you can see, this is not all inclusive legislation but it is, as she has pointed, and others it could do. I think it's a fabulous piece of legislation and it was really interesting.

Speaker 1: 29:41

I got to a watching stream where it got to pass on September 6th and everybody voted for it, but there was one council member and initially he passed, so he passed on the vote and it came back around and this council member said I do have some concerns about the cost that might be had to the county through this. One particular thing that had been raised before is that there will be the ability to provide an exception because town hall are not listed as one of the houses, so the permit office of the county will in fact have to read these waivers request, as they are going to call, or can we get an exception not to do certain things? And so that will work for the permit office and so that could be more time, more hours into reviewing applications, maybe more individuals that would need to be hired Because, again, at the end of the day, this is all private sector housing. So in 2026, 50% had to be accessible. Based on these standards, that is a possibility, but luckily this particular councilman said he understood the intent and the need for it and even though he was a little hesitant on the first go around, he did say aye. So I think that's a fabulous sort of thing to think about when you are looking into thinking about democracy, I guess I should say. And so I am really excited about this legislation.

Speaker 1: 31:25

And one thing that I do have a little hard but in which is why you know I am going to be watching this very steadily. I am hoping to get it full self and really try to make this a really big deal, because it is a big deal. Can you imagine being able to go, if you are somebody like me, in a way, to go out to a particular county and all that half of the single fairway homes I will be able to use? When I went to my home shopping experience, or trouble, as I call it I had to bring my own rent because realtors were not prepared to even think about having a rent. I would have to, in a lot of cases, bring a friend or a family mainly a friend, because my family is in Indiana bring a friend to carry me in my manual wheelchair which I had to use, my manual wheelchair it's like normal electric wheelchair. It's really heavy and I would have to be carried in just being able to see the house. And now the thought that in three years, like I'll be able to go to this county, it will happen. I can just wheel in to be able to see do I want this house. So it is a big deal and every county should have this.

Speaker 1: 32:54

But there's going to be some hurdles. I know there are. B is what they're going to do to finance what's, because there's a long bay language which is usual for a law usually gets a little bit more specific. They are going to have what's called the universal design implementation workbook and it's going to be according to the council I believe she believes there's going to be six spots and like three of them. She can decide and I think the, if I heard correctly, the others will be decided by the permit office or have somebody from the permit office, maybe somebody from the mayoral and builders association on that side of the valley, and so this work group is really going to try to finance what's so this actually mean? And then I've heard council member Ivy say that she wants to keep things simple. I created a simple checklist as to for the permit office about providing this waiver. That sounds great in theory, but I'm going to be watching this and what I am concerned about is, if you make it too easy, people are going to have waivers left, and when I talked to council member Ivy, she had raised some concerns about having you out great based on. What that means is that, historically speaking, houses have always been a little bit above ground to to put water and other things to coming in, and that then usually requires at least one step. But if you listen to my next episode in October, I will have somebody from the state of who it works on permit for accessibility in housing and commercial building.

Speaker 1: 34:44

His name is Edith. Edith provided me a great quote and he has said, first of all, he has said that, because of environmental concern with wind, that a lot of front doors can be self-sealing. It can really prevent even standing water from coming into the house, and so the idea that you need to be really high above the ground really is not a fact, that you just need to know the right door that you will build right you need to put into the house. And he said that oftentimes when he's dealing with architects and other businesses are spoiled and friendly by a little bit. And then he said if you lived in Florida, you know what winter coats are, you know the generality of why you need a winter coat and everything like that. But you know what? You probably don't ever own a real winter coat. Because you live in Florida and because you never own a real winter coat, you probably don't think a lot about winter coats and you probably don't have enough to say that there's different types of winter coats that you might want to use. The different thing he goes that's what kind of like accessible housing is.

Speaker 1: 35:53

Housing developers know that there are people with disabilities out there. They know that general need a few things, but that's about it, because it's not in that world they don't have to live it day in and day out. And there's no, again, no federal law for private sector housing. That is less that single family homes without or less employed units. So that's where we have disconnect and I share that with Carol's, a member of IV, that it's understandable that maybe the VAIL and Builders Association is concerned about having your zero staffs and wanting to have a little bit of an incline, and that might be a little bit of compromise, as long as it's a ramp.

Speaker 1: 36:37

But you know, when they were having this hearing, the person that really was an inspiration. That council member IV has a very personal connection to this act as to why she proposed it, but she wasn't the first one to do it. She gives credit to Monica Walker. Monica Walker was a former member of the council. She came to speak during the hearing and I really think it's really important that part of this, as Monica Walker has said, the part of having accessibility for housing, is that it is. It's a diversity thing, it's ensuring diversity in home ownership by one of the largest minorities, which I fully agree, and it's an equitable reason.

Speaker 1: 37:29

It provides equity, and so I'm super excited about this legislation and I am going to try to reach out to my local disability community and I am wanting to find individuals with disabilities who have experience in accessible housing and I would like to form like a grassroots working group in order to draft up these other things that we think should be included and even help draft up the effective waiver that is maybe a little bit more inclusive.

Speaker 1: 38:09

That's simply a checklist, right? Because, again, I don't know who's going to be on this universal design implementation work group and one of my concerns and I see this a lot of committee work groups on a state and county level is that they do include the disability community, but the individual that they include just knows their perspective, which is great, nothing wrong with that, I love having a disability community involved, but they just know their disability, right. There's no intersectionality of different disabilities, other things that can overlap with religion, or even women for pregnancy. There's a lot of things that disabilities intersect and they tend to hire an individual who may not have any sort of experience like work experience or educational experience, that they're just an advocate, which is great to be an advocate, but, again, generally speaking, you're focusing on one thing with your advocate will you be an advocate? You don't necessarily have a long experience of what is the other side point to be saying, which you would get if you had a job that was in that particular field.

Speaker 1: 39:35

That's what they do and that's great, but generally speaking, it's been somebody who is an advocate in a disability organization but that organization doesn't know anything about housing other than from their framework. So, with that being said, I'm going to be reaching out to Facebook and other social media platforms to see if we can have our own little internal male and white working group with people with disabilities that do have the educational work experience and accessible housing it comes up with a fair use of. Finally, this is what we think that should be included underneath this legislation, and even take a crack at what acceptable way it will look like. It really can get to the nitty-gritty of it all. So I appreciate everybody listening, but those are the four reasons why I think the state of Maryland is, in fact, one of the best days for disability-hold ownership.