NEW: Disabled People Are More Than 2X As Represented Among Recently Evicted Renters As In General Population
A new report from Statistics Canada reveals that the percentage of renters who’ve been evicted in the last 12 months, the percentage who identified as disabled was “more than double the proportion found within the total population.” As well, and nearly half of those evicted (46%) rated their mental health as fair or poor.
Twenty-eight percent of people who’d been evicted in the last year are disabled. That is not actually doubt the rate of disability in the entire adult population, but I assume it was adjusted for the age of evictees which tended to be younger. (Percentage of people who are disabled increasing with age.) “Six in ten (59%) were between the ages of 25 and 44, with over one-third (34%) being between the ages of 25 and 34.”
Other data:
More than half of evictions are a result of landlord factors such: “landlord wanting the unit for their own use (30%), the landlord wishing to sell the property (17%), and evicting tenants to perform major repairs or renovations (4%).”
Difficulty paying the rent is the next most common cause.
You can read more here.
These findings are not surprising but nonetheless disturbing, more so given the rate of disability went up in 2022.
At the end of last year research conducted by a project at the University of Calgary estimated that about 60% of public space in Canadian cities is inaccessible. I would suspect that percentage is far higher for housing.
Disability benefit rates need to be lifted above the poverty line (after the poverty line is corrected for ableist bias), across the country.
Build liveable accessible, adaptable and truly affordable housing everywhere.
The need for more accessible AND actually affordable housing is obviously way past urgent. But, because the Canadian model of disability invented by Brian Mulroney and Rick Hansen, has focused on individualistic and consumer solutions to solve structural oppression, we have lacked both meaningful accessibility and affordability. We need immediate action but we also need to toss this model and the Rick Hansen Foundation privatized accessibility certification in the trash bin. It’s time to tackle this with public policy and a holistic and human approach to accessibility and housing. Wheelchair adapted design at the affordable level is hideous, inequitable and not conducive to living. Other accessibility needs - which wheelchair users may also have, in addition to all the other disabled people whose needs have been ignored - are left out entirely. There are groups in the U.S. who have done a great deal of research and even designed and built housing with much broader accessibility considerations in mind. Ultimately, renters not just homeowners need to be able to age in place and have housing that can be adapted as their needs change due to injury, illness or ageing. The discussions we are not having about housing are part of the problem. The same thinking that led to why disabled people are over-represented among the evicted, in core housing need or unhoused, is dictating what is discussed and what is designed.
For those who find themselves without housing they face inaccessibility in emergency shelters.
Disabled women escaping violence also face accessibility barriers to safe shelters. “Of the 186 older shelters who responded, only 47% reported that their shelter was “generally accessible” to women who use a wheelchair or other mobility device, 29% for women who are blind or visually impaired, and 31% for women who are Deaf or hard of hearing.” This is especially worrisome when you consider disabled women experience significantly higher rates of violence compared to non-disabled women. (It varies depending on disability and living situation, with the highest rates - 10 times those of non-disabled women - being among those who live in institutional settings.)
Lack of affordable, accessible housing is also one of the reasons disabled people are forced into long term care. And now, it has become a reason for MAiD.
If you are talking about housing and not talking to disabled poor people then you are not part of the solution.
