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AHA Defends Lack of Accessible Housing
The Atlanta Housing Authority
(AHA) maintains 14,744 units of
public housing of which only 131
units are accessible to the
handicapped and disabled. This
averages out to AHA only
accomodating 2.4% of the disabled
poor and elderly, but yet, there are
1,616 units vacant Of the 131
units termed "accessible" by AHA,
many of them are indeed not
accessibility in some cases stops at
the doorway. On March 26th, approximately 60
angry, poor, disabled, elderly, and teenage people
assembled at the Atlanta Downtown Labor Center
for a Poor Peoples Empowerment Forum presented
by Disabled in Action, Inc. (DLA) and the Georgia
New Alliance Party (NAP) to collectively speak out
against these realities.
The forum addressed three major concerns: 1)
the mismanagement of funds by AHA in building
and reconstructing accessible housing; 2) the
insufficient number of accessible housing units built
since 1973 to meet the neeeds of disabled people;
and 3) the insensitivie treatment of disabled
individuals by AHA personnel. Alvaader Fraizer,
an African American woman who is founder and
director of The People's Law Institution based in
New York, state chair of Lesbians and Gays for
Fulani and New York state lesbian and gay
organizers opened the forum with anger at the
treatment of the disabled not only in Atlanta, but
across the country. Addressing the three major
concerns, Fraizer pointed out "to exclude, to
abandon, to not support the whole lives of disabled
people is an issue of human decency."
Roy Norman, representing AHA as a last minute
replacement of Samuel Hider, Executive Director of
AHA, responded to the concerns. In accounting for
the 1,616 vacant units, Norman stated, "600 units
are either efficiencies or one-bedrooms, 150-200
units are in high rise buildings and have been ready
for as many as five years with no one being placed
in those units primarily because the people have not
either wanted to live in those settings (audience
openly laughed) or maybe we have not done a good
job in letting them know that they are there and that
they are safe and we assume some of the
responsibility from a marketing point of view.
Another 250 units are vacant and waiting repair,
200 are not economically feasible for repairment,
and last, approximately 400 units where move- out
turn -over rate is excessive and requiring constant
repairment" Norman further stated, "In 1980, two
units were converted to accomodate the handicaped
population and for as long as nine months, thirty
units went unoccupied waiting for the persons to
present themselves."
In order to occupy a unit the disabled, elderly or
handicapped person must either be with a family or
able to live independently. Currently, according to
Norman, "there are families on AHA's waiting list
VOICES
t seeking handicapped accessible
units." Realizing also that
repair and construction are
required, Norman insisted that
with a limited amount of funds,
AHA could only do a limited
amount of work. "For the
fiscal year 1988, $10 million
worth of needs were assessed
from 42 sites with only $4
million being alloted in the
1988 budget for this purpose."
In assessing“the msensitiviteness of the AHA
personnel, Norman assured the audience that no one
on the staff was unsupportive of the needs of
disabled people.
After listening to the reasons given by Norman,
Rev. Calvin Peterson, president of DIA and the
New Alliance party's candidate for the Public
Service Commission, refused to accept such
"reasoning that leads to dehumanizing living
conditions for America's disabled and senior
citizens." Posing opposition to Norman, Peterson
stated, "I cannot understand how the people from
the housing authority could stand up and tell people
stuff that is totally incorrect I cannot accept this!"
Peterson also noted that over the past 10 years,
the AHA has given $246,719,584.00 by the
government under the Comprehensive
Improvement Assistance Program. In 1988 alone,
approximately $24 million has been allotted for
improvement, whereas Norman could only account
for $4 million.
Disabled, able-bodied, and elderly residents
shook their heads in disbelief at Norman's defense
of the AHA.
Raymond Sellers has epilepsy, his wife has
cerebral palsy and they are parents of a three-month
old daughter. They currently live in Capitol
Homes. The Sellers family has been moved twice
and has yet to recieve an accessible apartment
Bernard Baker, a quadraplegic, is a resident of the
AHA who says he "dealt with AHA until he
couldn't deal with them any longer." When you
have to deal with no accessible transportation, you
have to deal with public housing, and then you have
to deal with the public housing people's attitudes....
some of their attitudes actually stink!"
Mark Johnson, a local activist in the fight for
civil rights of disabled people, challenged the
AHA's "telethon mentality" of constructing and/or
repairing only the number of units for which there is
a demand. He also questioned Hider's sincerity,
given Hider did not attend the forum. "If Mr. Hider
was so sincere, he would send a letter to the
Secretary of HUD within the next week to say that
he is appalled that we don't have final regulations of
the Section 504 Rehabilitation Act after fifteen
years. If he's so committed, I want to see the
statement If he wants to put himself out there and
say I believe the people..., he has the opportunity."
"The way we're going to win the fight for decent
Pride Foundation
Receives $1.1 Million
Seattle-Pride Foundation of Seattle, Washington,
announced two bequests totalling $1.1 million
dollars for fiscal year 1987. The bequests were left
by two Seattle men. They were Gerald Geisert,
who left Pride Foundation $ 100,000 after his death
from lung cancer, and Allan Tonning, who
established the Tonning Trust Fund of one million
dollars before his death due to AIDS.
The generous bequests of Tonning and Geisert
culminated the two-year birth of Pride Foundation,
which was founded as an outgrowth of the Greater
Seattle Business Association (GSBA), "the
Chamber of Commerce to the gay and lesbian
community." According to David Poot, Pride
Foundation board member, "(The Pride
Foundation) grew out of the number of funding
requests the GSBA was receiving. As individual
business people, there was only so much we could
do. But we recognized the potential for a fund
raising organization to offer grants to worthy causes
in the gay and lesbian community."
Tonning, who would eventually endow the
organization, Pride Foundation President Mary Kay
Wright and Vice-President Barbara Bailey were
appointed by the GSBA board of directors to study
other funding organizations established by affiliate
members of the National Association of Business
Councils (NABC). They were instructed to cull the
best traits from the foundations of San Francisco,
San Diego and Minneapolis to form what would
become the Pride Foundation.
"We were able to start at second base after
reviewing their successes and failures," said Pool
Tonning's million dollar endowment was placed
into the Tonning Trust, which will be administered
by Wright, Poot and the deceased's brother, Andrew
Tonning.
housing is through the building of an independent
party that will represent our issues," stated Tammi
Weinstein, Georgia state coordinator, NAP. "The
AHA, the Democratic and
Republican parties, as we've seen
again and again, won't respond to
our demands without that
independent pressure. Building an
independent third party has
everything to do with winning the
fight for decent and accessible
housing."
Peterson announced that on July
12,1988 there will be a march on
the AHA. Mayor Young will be
presented with 10,000 signatures in
support of accessible and decent
living conditions for disabled and
elderly people. Peterson said, in
conclusion, ’The AHA has
traditionally and historically
ignored, discriminated against and
traditionally denied poor people of
anything and I'd like to say today,
that this attitude has to go! That
attitude has to go; we will not take it
any more!" -Patricia Jackson
This will allow us to establish a sustaining
fund," said Bailey. "This money will last in
perpetuity. Funding for gay and lesbian
organizations in Washington will never stop! I’m
sure this could be just the beginning."
According to Poot, Tonning's intent was for "the
Pride Foundation to be the principle beneficiary...,
but he wished to make certain the money never
came under the control of radical fringe elements in
the gay and lesbian community."
Six percent of the invested principle plus interest
will be awarded during the bi-annual granting
cycles, which coincide with lesbian/gay pride week
and the December holiday season. According to
Bailey, "Our charter restricts grants to 501C-3
organizations (groups which qualify under IRS
regulations as non-political), and requires that one-
third of our grants be awarded to lesbian
organizations, one-third to gay men's organizations,
and one-third to co-gender groups."
The original trust fund of one million dollars
may be reduced on a 2-to-l matching-fund basis, up
to $250,000, with funds raised by the community at
large to build a gay and lesbian community center.
It is a sorely needed service, according to Poot,
who noted, "We are all paying rent, paying for
secretarial services, and not to mention printing. If
we could get this off the ground, we would literally
be paying ourselves to perform those services. We
could all be under the same roof."
If such a community center is built using funds
from the Tonning Trust, Tonning's will stipulates
that it be named after his lover, Lany Jenkins, who
proceeded him in death by one year.
Geisert's bequest, unlike Tonning's, was promp
ted by a brochure published by the Pride Foun
dation. The brochure is disbributed to lawyers, who
advise clients of the services provided by the Pride
Foundation during the process of preparing a will.
The Pride Foundation has grown faster than any
original organizers anticipated. For this city of
600,000 the future is looking extremely bright
Declared Poot, "We are preparing the future for
today's gay and lesbian children. 1
■ Chris Duncan
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