A.  Disability and Access Analysis

1.  Population Profile

There are significant data gaps for disabled persons from the local to national level. Of the data available, there are 134,700 documented households experiencing a mental or physical disability in Portland. Disabled households make up approximately 24% of Portland’s total population. Of these households, about half are ambulatory, 33,182, or cognitive, 30,102 disabilities. There are also 26,037 households facing difficulty with independent living. See HUD table 13, Disability by Type, for details on disability type and population.

Using the Fair Housing Assessment maps provided by HUD, the dispersal of households with a disability focuses on the north and east parts of Portland, with the exception of the downtown core. Downtown Portland has a high concentration of housing for households with disabilities potentially due to the concentration of services for low-income households.

Generally, there is an even dispersal of disabled households, with no obvious clustering or patterning in the east and north parts of the city. However, where independent living locations exist they commonly appear as small groupings. There is no concentration of disabled households in a R/ECAP because there are currently no R/ECAPs in this jurisdiction.

The geographic pattern for persons with disabilities based on age follows the same general dispersal pattern as by disability type. There is a high concentration at the downtown core and an even dispersal over the northern and eastern parts of the city. Most people with a disability are between the ages of 18-64, 7.4%. Older adults, 65 and over, are 4.3% of the total population and youth with a disability, aged 5-17, are less than 1% of the population.

2.  Housing Accessibility

Data for housing accessibility is inadequate nationally and locally. There is no inventory of accessible units and census data is limited. It is unclear whether people with a disability have a unit that meets their needs. This lack of data is a barrier for jurisdictions to effectively assess and evaluate housing availability and conditions for people with disabilities.

Data provided in the Portland Housing Bureau’s 2016 State of Housing report indicates that there is a single neighborhood in the City of Portland where a senior household renting a 2-bedroom unit would not be rent burdened. The Centennial-Glenfair-Wilkes neighborhood is located at the eastern most boundary of Portland and is adjacent to the R/ECAP just outside of the city limits. On average, there are no neighborhoods in Portland in which a senior household could purchase a home without becoming rent burdened.

The report also notes that the housing policy targets from the 2035 Comprehensive Plan on affordable and accessible housing for seniors and people with disabilities is not being met.

2035 Comprehensive Plan Target: Allow and support a robust and diverse supply of affordable, accessible housing to meet the needs of older adults and people with disabilities, especially in centers, station areas, and other places that are proximate to services and transit.

While publicly supported housing in Portland is generally located along main transit corridors at large intersections, there are large concentrations in downtown and North Portland. The table below provides information on publicly supported housing types and the number of disabled residents.

Portland is taking some policy action to increase units that persons with a disability may have access to. The Residential Infill Project from the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability is incorporating “visitability” requirements. They are design elements that would allow a disabled person to visit the unit. Elements included are a no step entry, wider hallways and doorways and larger bathrooms on the main floor.

3.  Integration of Persons with Disabilities Living in Institutions and Other Segregated Settings

a.  To what extent do persons with disabilities in or from the jurisdiction or region reside in segregated or integrated settings?

b.  Describe the range of options for persons with disabilities to access affordable housing and supportive services in the jurisdiction and region.

4.  Disparities in Access to Opportunity

In Portland, persons with disabilities may request a reasonable accommodation when applying for City of Portland jobs or attending a public meeting. Phone numbers and email addresses of a specific staff person are provided to request an accommodation. There is generally a request by staff that individuals that do need an accommodation contact the appropriate person several days in advance to allow time to make the necessary adjustments.

Central and inner Portland neighborhoods tend to have more complete sidewalks, adequate curb cuts and signaled or stripped crossings. Portland has challenges with incomplete sidewalks especially in the south west and outer east sides. The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBoT) is working through a 5-year project that will build over 7 miles of sidewalk infill in Southwest and East Portland. This project has helped add or replace curb cuts and build new sidewalks. That said, there are still neighborhoods in Southwest and Eastern Portland that have no sidewalks on either side of the street or only partial sections of sidewalk that are interrupted by unpaved sections. Unpaved sections could contain a dirt “goat path” making them somewhat passable or they could be taken up with landscaping thereby shutting off access altogether to pedestrians of any ability. Additionally, signaled crossing tends to occur at major intersections in southwest and eastern neighborhoods. This is helpful as many of these streets allow transit riders to transfer between lines. However, these parts of Portland are built with longer blocks between major intersections and multiple lanes of traffic making it dangerous for an able-bodied person to cross and impossible for a person with a disability to navigate.

People with disabilities can access all modes of public transit including buses, trains and street cars. They also have the option of using the LIFT program offered by the regional transit authority TRIMET. LIFT provides approximately 1 million trips annual to individuals with disabilities. City negotiations with ride sharing companies such as Uber require an option for people with a disability. This option is contracted out and does not match the response time that other cars offer. Where non-disabled passengers may have a car in 5 or 10 minutes, it may take 30 minutes for a ride share for a disabled passenger.

i.  Proficient schools and educational programs

ii.  Jobs

a.  Describe the processes that exist in the jurisdiction and region for persons with disabilities to request and obtain reasonable accommodations and accessibility modifications to address the barriers discussed above.

b.  Describe any difficulties in achieving homeownership experienced by persons with disabilities and by persons with different types of disabilities in the jurisdiction and region.

5.  Disproportionate Housing Needs

We are unable to answer this question at this time. Because there are significant gaps in data at all levels of government, it is not clear what the disproportionate housing needs are for individuals with a disability.

6.  Additional Information

a.  Beyond the HUD-provided data, provide additional relevant information, if any, about disability and access issues in the jurisdiction and region including those affecting persons with disabilities with other protected characteristics.

b.  The program participant may also describe other information relevant to its assessment of disability and access issues.

7.  Disability and Access Issues Contributing Factors

Consider the listed factors and any other factors affecting the jurisdiction and region. Identify factors that significantly create, contribute to, perpetuate, or increase the severity of disability and access issues and the fair housing issues, which are Segregation, R/ECAPs, Disparities in Access to Opportunity, and Disproportionate Housing Needs. For each contributing factor, note which fair housing issue(s) the selected contributing factor relates to.

•  Access for persons with disabilities to proficient schools

•  Access to publicly supported housing for persons with disabilities

•  Access to transportation for persons with disabilities

•  Inaccessible government facilities or services

•  Inaccessible public or private infrastructure

•  Lack of access to opportunity due to high housing costs

•  Lack of affordable in-home or community-based supportive services

•  Lack of affordable, accessible housing in range of unit sizes

•  Lack of affordable, integrated housing for individuals who need supportive services

•  Lack of assistance for housing accessibility modifications

•  Lack of assistance for transitioning from institutional settings to integrated housing

•  Lack of local or regional cooperation

•  Land use and zoning laws

•  Lending discrimination

•  Location of accessible housing

•  Loss of Affordable Housing

•  Occupancy codes and restrictions

•  Regulatory barriers to providing housing and supportive services for persons with disabilities

•  Source of income discrimination

•  State or local laws, policies, or practices that discourage individuals with

   disabilities from living in apartments, family homes, supportive housing, shared housing and other integrated settings

•  Other

Conner, Jessica, 2018-01-30T15:36:00Z
Still waiting to hear from Nickole about many of the questions in this section.