HUGE! $100M boost opens doors to Section 8

New York Daily News -

100M boost opens doors to Section 8
BY MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
Tuesday, January 30th, 2007

For the first time in more than a decade, the city will be accepting new applications for Section 8 vouchers - with 22,000 families getting the coveted housing subsidy."This really is a very big deal in the housing business," Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday at an applications office in Corona, Queens.

A huge boost in federal funding - up to $100 million nationwide - is behind the largess that's opening up the waiting list for the first time since 1994.

Applications will be accepted for three months starting Feb. 12.

Officials said 12,000 vouchers will be available this year and an additional 10,000 next year. The city will set aside 3,000 for households at risk of becoming homeless.

With a Section 8 voucher, families pay 30% of their income for rent, and the New York City Housing Authority, the largest provider of public housing in the country, pays the remainder directly to the landlord.

The current waiting list has 127,000 families - but time has rendered most of the names obsolete. Of the 75,000 people the city already has contacted, about 60,000 no longer want the vouchers, are no longer eligible or can't be found.

Janet Perry, 48, who has been living in a Brooklyn homeless shelter for nearly a year, was elated to hear she might be in line to get her own apartment.

"I'm very happy," said Perry, a former groundskeeper for the city's Parks Department.

"I called already and the line's been busy, busy, busy at the Section 8 office," Perry said. "I'm going to keep calling, though, until I get someone."

Mary Brosnahan Sullivan, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless, said she's concerned these vouchers won't reach those with the "most urgent need."

Over the years, the Bloomberg administration has steered homeless people away from Section 8 and toward the "highly flawed" Housing Stability Plus program, which makes it difficult for families to get permanent housing, she said.

But Bloomberg spokesman Jason Post said under the mayor's administration, far more New Yorkers receive rental assistance than before.

"We want to ensure as many households as possible - homeless or otherwise - can benefit," Post said.



First steps toward housing subsidy

Here's how to apply:


Applicants can pick up forms at any of the New York City Housing Authority's borough applications offices or management offices. For a list of addresses, go to www.nyc.gov/nycha or call 311.




Individuals who earn less than $24,800 a year or a family of four making less than $35,000 a year may qualify for the subsidy.


Applications must be postmarked no later than May 14.


Mail completed applications to New York City Housing Authority, P.O. Box 445, Church St. Station, New York, N.Y. 10008-0445.


If you think you're already on the current waiting list, contact the New York City Housing Authority or call 311.

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Microtel Earns Kudos from Disability Community

Microtel Earns Kudos from Disability Community
Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) presented its ninth annual Eagle Award to Microtel Inns & Suites in recognition for excellence in providing accessible lodging for travelers with disabilities and for making a significant contribution to the advancement of people with disabilities.

DRA also cited Microtel for adopting the Opening Doors® program, which provides all staff with training in disability awareness and customer service. W.C. Duke Associates of Woodford, Virginia, developed the training program.

Microtel Inns & Suites offers three ADA-room designs and a variety of services. In order to better serve travelers with disabilities, Microtel now provides “Access Microtel” pamphlets, “Accessible Fitness” bags for guests to use in their room, and Upper Body Ergometers.

There are currently 297 Microtel hotels open or under construction worldwide. For more information visit www.microtelinn.com, which includes an entire section dedicated to ADA accommodations, featuring room dimensions, ADA specific amenities, common area accessibility information, and a virtual tour.

new site

Do Web Sites Need to Be Accessible to the Blind?

Carla J. Rozycki and David K. Haase
Special to Law.com

January 10, 2007

An advocacy group has sued Target Corp., claiming that Target's Web site
is incompatible with software used by the blind and that such
incompatibility is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA).

In National Federation for the Blind v. Target Corp. (__ Supp.2d __, 2006
WL 2578282 [N.D. Cal. Sept. 6, 2006]), the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of California refused to dismiss those claims, leaving
many questions unanswered for entities operating Web sites. TITLE III OF
THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT

In 1990, Congress enacted the ADA to establish a comprehensive prohibition
of discrimination on the basis of disability and, in certain
circumstances, to require affirmative efforts to accommodate individuals
with disabilities. Title III of the ADA provides for accessibility of
places of public accommodation.

The ADA defines a "place of public accommodation" as a facility, operated
by a private entity, whose operations affect commerce and fall within at
least one of 12 specified categories. 42 U.S.C. §12181(7).

The statute and implementing regulations were enacted before the Internet
became an everyday tool and do not expressly state whether the Internet is
a place of public accommodation. The Department of Justice has
consistently taken the position that it is -- for example, through the
filing of amicus briefs.

Courts have split on the issue. The U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 6th and
9th Circuits and a district court in Florida have held that a public place
of accommodation must be a physical location. (See, for example, Parker v.
Metro. Life Ins. Co., 121 F.3d 1006 (6th Cir. 1997); Weyer v. Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corp., 198 F.3d 1104, 1114 (9th Cir. 2000); Access Now,
Inc. v. Southwest Airlines Co., 227 F.Supp.2d 1312 (S.D. Fla. 2002),
appeal denied, 385 F.3d 1324 [11th Cir. 2004].)

In contrast, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has stated that Title
III of the ADA is not limited to purely physical structures, although that
court did not address the Internet specifically. (Carparts v. Automotive
Wholesaler's Ass'n., 37 F.3d 12, 22-23 (1st Cir. 1994.) The 7th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals, in dicta, has stated that a Web site can be a
place of public accommodation. (Doe v. Mutual of Omaha Ins. Co., 179 F.3d
557, 559 (7th Cir. 1999.)

Similarly, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that an automated
method of selecting television show contestants was an intangible barrier
to a physical location in Rendon v. Valleycrest Productions, 294 F.3d 1279
(11th Cir. 2002).

In 2002, the United States District Court of the Northern District of
Georgia granted a preliminary injunction against the Atlanta public
transit agency in favor of several individuals who alleged violations of
the ADA, including nonaccessible information technology. (Martin v.
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, 225 F. Supp. 2d 1362 (N.D.
Ga. 2002.) However, the Martin case involved Title II of the ADA dealing
with "public agencies" as opposed to Title III, which deals with "public
accommodations."

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