Education

Coalition for Housing Opportunities in the Community for Everyone, Inc.

Community Education

Educating the public: Improving public awareness about the importance of accessible housing for all people, with and without disabilities, is critical to creating more affordable, accessible housing in our communities. Building community support for accessible housing influences market demand, which increases the production of accessible housing. Likewise, community support for funding initiatives that promote accessible housing can also lead to greater production. Finally, a community that strongly supports accessibility can become an excellent enforcement mechanism.

CHOICE volunteers take their message about affordable, accessible housing on the road to a variety of community groups. Through panel discussions, videos and hands-on demonstrations, our speakers help their audience gain a visceral understanding of what accessible housing means to a person with a disability, and what they can do to support accessible housing efforts in their community.

Educating people with disabilities: Owning or renting a home is an unfamiliar idea to many people with disabilities who, because of low incomes, the lack of community-based services, and the dearth of accessible housing, have never lived anywhere but their family’s home or a congregate care setting. Concepts such as credit ratings and adjustable rate mortgages can be difficult to understand. Yet people with disabilities have a strong desire to have homes they can call their own. That is why CHOICE conducts educational seminars for people with disabilities on the process of preparing for homeownership, fair housing rights and funding sources to help make the cost of housing and home modifications affordable.

Educating housing providers: Housing providers and administrators of government housing programs frequently are unaware of funding resources available to stimulate the production of affordable, accessible housing; the varying degrees of accessibility different laws and regulations require, and the most effective methods to communicate the availability of accessible housing to people with disabilities in the community. CHOICE offers periodic workshops taught by professionals in the fields of law, architecture and disability services to address these issues. In addition, when CHOICE identifies barriers that prevent people with disabilities from accessing housing programs, we meet individually with key program staff or Board members to explore how to remove these barriers so people with disabilities can participate fully in these programs.

If you would like CHOICE to conduct a workshop for your group or organization, please contact us at choicenova@comcast.net or (703) 851-5257.

Close Window