Does the Americans with Disabilities Act grant housing protections, such as accessible residential parking, to renters with disabilities? What about public beaches, do they need to be accessible? Determining physical accessibility requirements under the ADA can be tricky, but this edition of Ask About the ADA examines two places where equal access may be required.
NortheastADA.org
Does the Americans with Disabilities Act grant housing protections, such as accessible residential parking, to renters with disabilities? What about public beaches, do they need to be accessible? Determining physical accessibility requirements under the ADA can be tricky, but this edition of Ask About the ADA examines two places where equal access may be required.
NortheastADA.org
JOE ZESSKI: Hello. Welcome to this edition of Ask About the ADA, the podcast where we answer your questions about the Americans with Disabilities Act and how it applies to everyday life.
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On this edition of the podcast, we're going back to a webinar that the Northeast ADA hosted back in December of 2021. The webinar was called What's the Question? And it featured the technical assistance team of the Northeast ADA answering frequently received questions here at the Center. You heard myself, Joe Zesski, as well as Technical Assistant and Outreach Specialist, Christopher Sweet, and also, Jennifer Perry, our access specialist here at the Center.
Today, you're going to hear the voice of Jennifer Perry answering two questions that were talked about during the webinar. The topics for the question were housing and beach access. I hope you enjoy.
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JENNIFER PERRY: Next, really common question. And I, again, just-- I know that all the ADA centers throughout the National Network also get a lot of calls like this, and it relates to housing. And the question usually goes something like this.
I need some advice. My apartment manager said that I cannot have a reserved parking space closer to my unit, and I have a disability. Doesn't the ADA prohibit that? Again, this is a very, very common question.
So just to kind of set the framework here, remember, that question is being posed to the ADA Center. So I think people, first and foremost, assume that the ADA always applies in the housing context. Sadly, that is just really not the case.
There's the five titles of the ADA where it very clearly protects the rights of people with disabilities, and they cannot be discriminated against in community life. Two of those titles do touch on housing.
So under Title II of the ADA, certainly if it's a state or local government program that involves housing-- case in point, could be a public housing authority, whether it's run by a City or a County, a university, things like dormitory housing or group homes, in some case shelters or correctional facilities, there, there is a very clear and direct link to Title II of the ADA. These are all things that can fall under program services or activities of the state or local government. So, yes, in that context, the ADA would apply.
Now, under Title III, there are, again, some instances where housing can fall under Title III. In most cases, though, given the calls that we receive and the example that I just shared about needing a reserved parking space in a private apartment complex, that would not fall under Title III.
But you could potentially have a homeless shelter that was operated possibly by a non-profit entity. That could possibly fall under Title III. And if there are any amenities that are open to the public in a multifamily housing setting, then the ADA would apply.
So if you had an apartment complex that had a leasing office, and the leasing office is open to anyone in the public to come and visit, then that leasing office, yes, would fall under Title III of the ADA, but the dwelling units themselves, or the apartments or condos, those would not fall under the umbrella of the ADA. Because, again, there's just no clear link under either Title II or Title III to those areas.
Having said that, luckily for all these calls that we get with that question about the reserved parking space closer to my unit, I am absolutely able to share that but there is another law that does protect your right as an individual to disability to ask for a reserved parking space closer to your unit, and that law is the Fair Housing Act, and specifically, the Fair Housing Amendments Act.
And the Fair Housing Amendments Act is what requires all housing providers, both those that are private, as well as those that are public, to provide reasonable accommodations for residents with disabilities. And also, there's a language that housing providers must allow individuals with disabilities to make reasonable modifications, whether it's to their policies, practices, or procedures, or an actual structural modification to their unit if it's needed by an individual with a disability.
So the Fair Housing Act is, again, it's kind of a sister law, if you will, to the ADA, protects the rights of people with disabilities in housing. And that would be the answer, if you will, to those callers.
So we often provide them with information about the Fair Housing Act. And we also then share that the Fair Housing Act is ultimately enforced by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Again, like the ADA, it's a federal civil rights law, and it's enforced by HUD, specifically HUD'S Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.
So I've provided a link in the slides that I believe we'll be sharing out later if you wanted to investigate what the complaint process looks like. It's similar to the ADA. The Fair Housing Act is very much a complaint-driven law.
So you can file a complaint with HUD if you did ask your HOA to have a reserved parking space because of your disability, and they just came back and said, no, we don't do that and they weren't willing to work with you. Certainly, your recourse could be to contact HUD.
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And since I was asked to kind of consider the top three most commonly asked questions, I received a lot-- a lot of questions this past year-- it seems to be growing with every year that goes by-- a lot of questions regarding the accessibility of beaches. And the questions usually are similar to this one which states that, aren't public beaches required to be accessible? My son uses a wheelchair, and it is very difficult to navigate a trip to the beach.
And the answer to this is, yes, the ADA does apply to public beaches. And that's because beaches would fall under Title II of the ADA. Remember, Title II of the ADA covers all programs, activities, and services that are provided by public entities.
So if a public entity then operates a beach, that beach and the activities that are occurring on that beach and access to the beach would fall under that umbrella of a program, service, or activity of a public entity. So that does then necessitate a need to think about, how is this beach meeting the needs and serving the needs of individuals with disabilities? And that, again, just goes back to the ADA's general nondiscrimination provisions, which state that people with disabilities can't be denied the benefit from services, programs, or activities of a public entity.
Now, the challenge, when we think about beaches, is that we don't have a very clear black and white roadmap that tells us exactly how to make a beach accessible. Those ADA standards for design that I mentioned earlier contain a lot of very clear, technical requirements.
I had one figure up of just a door that said, here's what a door has to comply with to be considered accessible. Unfortunately, in the ADA standards currently we don't have as clear of a roadmap regarding beaches. However, there is another standard under another law called the Architectural Barriers Act that I'll show you in a second that does contain scoping and technical requirements for beaches.
Right now that standard is mandatory only for federally operated beaches-- think of federal parks types of areas. However, it is very much considered a best practice document. So if I were a public entity under the ADA, and I know I have obligations to provide access to a beach, that's where I would go to look for guidance on what I can do.
The good news is that the ABA standards contain both permanent, as well as temporary solutions that can be used in order to provide access to the beach. There is a photo on the slide showing a removable beach mat. That's one very common solution that is implemented throughout the country and can be used at lakefront beaches, coastal beaches, and it's something that works very well.
And, again, going back to universal design, is something that is very much appreciated not only by individuals with disabilities, but also with parents, particularly parents lugging 8,000 beach toys to the beach. So that would be considered one option.
And then if a public entity decided that, no, it's not feasible for us to provide access to our beachfront, particularly if funding is an issue, then under the ADA, that barrier could then become a component of the public entity's transition plan. And that's where public entities kind of dictate out, here are our barriers to accessibility. Here is what it's going to cost to correct them. And here's our time frame for when we see-- when we plan on having enough money in the reserves so that we can fix that barrier to access.
So public entities should totally have a plan. If they can't address access to beaches today, they should definitely be thinking of going forward, what can we be doing to try to plan for accessibility down the road?
And this is just the Architectural Barriers Act. It's called the Outdoor Developed Areas Final Rule. That's where there are technical requirements for beach access routes. I'd be happy to talk to anyone. You can reach out to us here at the Center if you wanted to learn more about that standard.
And finally, I know the question was about access to public beaches. But remember that all those other things that are very common to public beaches are absolutely required to be accessible. So if there's parking provided, there must be accessible parking. If there's toilet rooms or bathing rooms, same for those.
Rinsing showers, drinking fountains, pavilions, any vendor or concession areas, picnic tables, dining areas-- all of those must be accessible as well. So there is no exception for those areas just because they happen to be located at a beach. So accessibility must be considered there.
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JOE ZESSKI: And that's it for today's episode of Ask About the ADA. I hope you found it informative and enjoyable. If you have questions about the Americans with Disabilities Act, please feel free to reach us here at the Northeast ADA Center by visiting NortheastADA.org, or by emailing us at NortheastADA@cornell.edu.
You can also call us at 1-800-949-4232 if you live in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands. And of course, you can always look for us on social media.
I'd like to thank Grace Fairchild, our producer for the podcast and editor. I also would like to thank Peter Quinn of the Yang Tan Institute's media team for providing additional edits. And thank you all for listening and being a part of our conversation about the ADA.
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