Housing options few for disabled

Mary and Martin Paris say they feel lucky to be in their present apartment.

Mary has multiple sclerosis and several other chronic conditions that require her to use a wheelchair.

The couple has limited income because Mary is on disability, and finding an apartment in Newton that was wheelchair access was a struggle.

Not only must the residence have a wheelchair-accessible entrance, but the inner doors had to be wider and the bathroom had to have extra space in which to maneuver Mary’s wheelchair.

The couple now lives in an apartment at Midtown Towers.

The handicap-accessible bathrooms at Midtown also have bars installed to make it easier for Mary to use the toilet and bathtub.

The Paris’ are not alone in their quandary to find handicap-accessible housing.

The Parises were able to qualify for housing at Midtown because Mary is on disability.

If you don’t qualify for elderly or low-income housing, finding accessible rental housing in the private sector can be very difficult, the Parises said.

Even at that, only a small percentage of low-income housing is wheelchair accessible, and many of the managers of those housing complexes said their accessible units are full.

Marilyn King, director of independent living and marketing for Kidron Bethel Village, said she has vacancies in the village’s duplexes.

However, she cannot provide housing for everyone who contacts her because of guidelines for her units.

She said she he has gotten multiple calls from younger people who may have some level of disability but can still walk. She cannot house these people.

Newton Plaza also has open apartments; however, only five of the apartments in the complex are wheelchair accessible, and all of those apartments are full, said Debbie Shepherd, Plaza manager.

The Plaza is primarily for low income seniors. However, the facility can take younger occupants if they are on disability, Shepherd said.

“They (accessible apartments) are almost always full,” she said. “People usually stay in them until they go into a nursing home.”

Shepherd said the company that manages the apartments will do minor changes to apartments to make them more accessible, such as putting up support bars in bathrooms.

But the company can’t do major renovations, such as knocking out walls to make bathrooms accessible or widening doors.

Rich Hanley, director of the Harvey County Department on Aging, said as people’s health declines with age, they are forced to face accessibility challenges in their homes.

Making an existing older home accessible can be cost prohibitive for many seniors on fixed incomes, Hanley said.

Some funds have been available in the past from the Area Council on Aging to help needy families put ramps on homes.

However, tightening budgets may mean those funds will no longer be there.

Bud Bryant of Bryant and Bryant Construction said ramps vary in cost from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars, depending on the size of the ramp and the materials used.

Ramps also do not solve problems with the interiors of homes, including the widths of doors, sizes of bathrooms and stairs, Hanley said.

“It can be tremendously expensive to make changes when you lose your ability to go up and down stairs,” Hanley said.

Accessibility issues are a leading cause for older Americans to look at retirement communities and assisted living facilities, he said.

“It is a big part of the transition. When people lose their mobility, it is a big factor in the decision of what happens next,” he said. “People have to ask, ‘How safe is the environment, and how safe can I get around it in?’”

As the director of the Harvey/Marion County Developmental Disabilities Association, Elizabeth Schmidt works with people who have both mental and physical handicaps.

She said some providers for the developmentally disabled have adapted existing homes for handicap accessibility.

She said some HUD housing projects also are accessible.

Schmidt said some limited funds are available to help with projects to do renovations to make homes accessible.

However, she said thinks the community could do more to keep people who need accessible housing in mind.

“I wish more contractors would build housing that is more accessible,” she said. “You never know when you and I are going to need accessible housing. It benefits everyone to be able to come and visit and come and go freely and not have architectural barriers.”

Schmidt said the more rural the area, the more difficulty residents can have in finding accessible housing, which is something the Parises can attest to.

They were living in Florence. They were having difficulty finding accessible housing there, so they finally moved to Newton.

“It is hard to find rental homes that are wheelchair accessible,” Mary Paris said. “It is doubly hard to find something if you are low income.”