The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development is going after Tempe’s Apache ASL Trails apartments due to their claim that the complex violates civil rights law — because it shows a preference for the hearing-impaired.
But, in 2005, a federal study found that the U.S. had virtually no affordable housing for the deaf. So the federal government helped build the 75-unit Apache ASL Trails apartment building in Tempe, designed specifically for the deaf, according to Fox News.
Ninety-percent of the units are currently occupied by deaf and deaf-blind seniors. Apache ASL Trails is a joint development between the Arizona Deaf Senior Citizens Coalition (ADSCC) and Cardinal Capital Management.
In a HUD memo about the project, they note, “A preference or priority based on a particular diagnosis or disability and excluding others with different disabilities is explicitly prohibited by HUD’s Section 504 regulations. There is no legal authority contained in any of Apache Trails funding to permit such a priority or preference.”
Thomas J. Posedly, Board Chairman of Arizona Deaf Senior Citizens Coalition (ADSCC), claims that HUD has a dark side. He says that HUD is bullying Arizona for allowing Deaf-accessible AAT in Tempe.
According to Posedly, AAT is one of seventeen similar Deaf-accessible housing complexes located all over the USA. AAT is just one Deaf-accessible housing out of over 100 existing hear-talk retirement housings in Tempe.
California has three Deaf-accessible houses, and one in Fremont was targeted in 2005 by HUD employees who successfully made Fremont Oak Gardens 80% or more occupied by the hearing people, disabled or not, leaving only 20% or less for the Deaf, according to Posedly.
Apache ASL Trails in Tempe, Arizona was opened to the public on July 11, 2011 and within next two months, it was 100% full of Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deaf-blind tenants in seventy-five apartments with all built-in features that assist this group. It is hugely successful.
Posedly alleges that a letter by HUD, dated June 8, outlined seven points of a “voluntary compliance agreement” to change AAT from a single disability group to a mutilple disability group. He claims that HUD is demanding that none of the marketing materials should mention “Deaf,” and that apartments must increase its Hispanic population to match the percentage of Hispanic residents in Maricopa County, and that the complex replace the Deaf manager with Hearing, Spanish speaking one.
He claims that an attorney for HUD Office of Fair Housing at San Francisco Region 9 HUD office re-affirmed that the Deaf shall not live with other Deaf, and the Deaf must mix with people with other disabilities.
A dark side to HUD is that it appears not to about our freedom to choose or our pursuit of happiness as written in the U.S. Constitution.
The attack has terrified and outraged residents. Mary Susan Case, an AAT resident, offered written testimony on the matter. In a piece entitled, My Experiences Of Living At Three Different Senior Housing, she wrote, “I moved to Apache ASL Trails as soon as it opened. I found HAPPINESS there. I have seen how happy Deaf residents are and their self-esteem grew. Some of the Deaf residents learning how to volunteer for Coffee Chat, holiday parties, potlucks, etc. I ask HUD to please not to destroy my happiness as well as the other AAT Deaf residents’ happiness.”
Case concluded, “My opinion is HUD violates Human Rights. Deaf Seniors have the right to choose where they want to live at.”
To learn more about the issue visit AZ: The Dark Side of HUD and the Arizona Deaf Senior Citizen Coalition.