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Old 01-12-2015, 12:30 PM
 
3 posts, read 8,733 times
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IJoin Date: Jan 2015
1 posts
Reputation: 10

felons and fair housing and persons with disability acts

Regarding finding rental with a felony: This woman is handicapped with bi-polar disorder. She was in manic mode, and may have been drinking. She was out of control and police were called. The officer was taking her to a treatment center and when he opened the door to get her out at the center, she kicked him. Off to Jail and a felony.

Now her lease is up and she has to find new rental housing. She has the felony. She has Section 8 housing voucher. She receives disability income for her handicap.

Between landlords not accepting Section 8; and the felony...she cannot find housing.

Any recommendations? This is in Sarasota County, Fl

Moderator cut: not allowed

Last edited by SouthernBelleInUtah; 01-12-2015 at 10:21 PM.. Reason: correction title
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Old 01-12-2015, 12:39 PM
 
Location: The Triad
34,091 posts, read 82,464,944 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by registersarasota View Post
Join Date: Jan 2015
1 posts
Reputation: 10

felons and fair housing and persons with disability acts

Regarding finding rental with a felony: This woman is handicapped with bi-polar disorder. She was in manic mode, and may have been drinking. She was out of control and police were called. The officer was taking her to a treatment center and when he opened the door to get her out at the center, she kicked him. Off to Jail and a felony.

Now her lease is up and she has to find new rental housing. She has the felony. She has Section 8 housing voucher. She receives disability income for her handicap.

Between landlords not accepting Section 8; and the felony...she cannot find housing.

Any recommendations? This is in Sarasota County, Fl
This woman needs a social worker...
and probably some sort of group housing

Last edited by SouthernBelleInUtah; 01-12-2015 at 10:22 PM..
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Old 01-12-2015, 12:41 PM
 
606 posts, read 899,678 times
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and hopefully she's reported her felony conviction to Section 8 because she may or may not be able to keep it.
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Old 01-12-2015, 10:29 PM
 
3 posts, read 8,733 times
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Default section 8

HUD is aware of her felony, but they consider the nature of it to be acceptable.

She has tried to get into handicapped housing but can't till 55yrs..she is 50.
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Old 01-13-2015, 10:23 AM
 
16,235 posts, read 25,078,297 times
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Are you sure you've checked out the housing requirements thoroughly...Handicapped(person with a disability) and senior are not mutually exclusive diagnosis. I'd go to your local ADA office. Or go with her to her social work/case manager....
Do a search online....Disability Housing Network (your State)

Last edited by JanND; 01-13-2015 at 10:27 AM.. Reason: link added
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Old 01-13-2015, 02:58 PM
 
Location: North Idaho
32,487 posts, read 47,436,183 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by registersarasota View Post
...........felons and fair housing and persons with disability acts

Regarding finding rental with a felony: This woman is handicapped with bi-polar disorder. She was in manic mode, and may have been drinking. She was out of control and police were called. .......
Sorry, but landlords are only required to make reasonable accommodation for disabilities. They are not required by law to accept persons with disabilities no matter what. Landlords can opt out from disabled renters if the accommodation required is not reasonable.

In no jurisdiction are landlords required to rent to felons and in no jurisdiction are landlords required to rent to drunks or to disorderly or violent persons.

I can feel some sympathy towards the mentally ill, but as a landlord, I will not rent to them if they can't be controlled with medication or they refuse to take their medication. I don't want to risk having my property torn up and I have legal liability if I knowingly rent to a violent person and they cause injury.

Personally, my opinion is that the mental health facilities need to be opened back up to take care of those who are so ill that they can't function in society. However, the Supreme Court has declared my idea on the issue to be illegal. Therefore there is bloody little that can be done for your friend, OP.
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Old 01-16-2015, 02:52 AM
 
Location: Silicon Valley
18,812 posts, read 32,262,905 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JanND View Post
Are you sure you've checked out the housing requirements thoroughly...Handicapped(person with a disability) and senior are not mutually exclusive diagnosis. I'd go to your local ADA office. Or go with her to her social work/case manager....
Do a search online....Disability Housing Network (your State)
This is correct. Many subsidized housing buildings/complexes will allow disabled people along with 55+ or families. Not all. But, many will.

And yes, most will accept a criminal background depending on the crime, etc.

It's really time consuming to find this type of housing. What you or she need to do, is get the lists of subsidized housing for the city and county she will live in, and literally call them all. There is no convenient database. You call them all, ask if she'd qualify, ask for an application and get on the waiting list. In my experience, looking for subsidized senior housing in CA, they will tell you the wait list is 12 months or longer, but in reality, they call in 3 to 6 months.

Some will have immediate vacancies, so that's not impossible.

But, it's true, a private landlord can have his/her own criteria, including saying they don't accept anyone with any type of criminal history at all. This is an allowed discrimination. Persons with a criminal history are not a protected class.

So, her best bet for housing is a federally/state/county/city subsidized housing facility that will take someone who is disabled. Normally their applications will include a chart of crimes that will be accepted or not, and the length of time that has to have elapsed. Such as, a crime for theft that's 3 years old will be allowed, etc.

I've seen many of these while applying myself for senior subsidized housing in CA. They are also much more lenient as far as credit is concerned.

Best wishes and good luck.
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