I forward the following message which is pof most immediate importance to
our members in the USA but is relevant to us all.
----- Original Message -----
From: Concrete Change E-mail <[log in to unmask]>
To: Concrete Change E-mail <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2000 4:30 AM
Subject: Disability Access to Homes
> Concrete Change E-mail - http://ConcreteChange.home.mindspring.com
>
> Dear People Concerned with Disability Access to Homes:
>
> A national issue has come up which could lead to the undermining of
> existing
> codes that ensure our already too small percentage of fully accessible
> homes.
>
>
> The upshot is that-unless persuaded otherwise over the next two weeks-the
> International Code Committee will publish a document that provides a
> mechanism for builders across the country to undo existing home access
> requirements. Here is the short version of the actions needed to turn this
> situation around:
>
> 1) call Bill Tangye (pronounced Tan-jee) President of the International
> Code Council (ICC), at 800/877-2224. Leave a message for him via his
> secretary or voice-mail that says something like this :
> I am ____________ (name) from ____________ (city). I belong to/am
> _____________ (name of your organization if any , or self description such
> as
>
> -I am an activist parent of a disabled child-). I am concerned about our
> already small existing accessible housing stock. Please do not publish
> Appendix C of the Code
> Requirements for Accessible Housing
>
> 2) Additionally, write a brief similar letter and mail it to the same
> person:
>
> Bill Tangye President, International Code Council, Inc. c/o Soy Williams
> (staff) 5203 Leesburg Pike, Suite 708 Falls Church, VA 22401
>
> Do the above by June 10.
>
> If you can go the second mile, send a copy of your letter to Secretary
> Andrew M. Cuomo U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development S, 451 -
> 7th St. SW Washington D.C. 20410
>
> ************
>
> If you want more background before acting, the following information will
> be
> of help 1.definitions 2. an explanation of the issue in an
> excerpt of letter written by Marilyn Golden, Policy Analyst for the
> Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF): 3. an article on
the
> subject in The Electric Edge, a web zine.
>
> Definitions:
>
> ICC: International Code Council-A non-profit organization formed in 1994
> whose mission is to resolve differences among several sets of existing
> access codes by developing a single set of of comprehensive and
> coordinated
> standards. The goal is to provide building professionals with uniform
> access
> construction standards so that they do not have to adjust to disparate
> codes
> in different regions of the USA and different countries.
>
> CRHA : A document entitled "Code Requirements for Housing Accessibility"
> written by the ICC, intended to create uniform, nationwide, access
> construction standards for housing, and thus reduce confusion about what
> standards are required for a particular building. According to disability
> advocates who have worked on the CRHA, it is a good document-except for
> Appendix C, which was added after the fact and without advocates
> agreement.
>
> Appendix C-A so-far-unpublished appendix to the CRHA, backed by NAHB with
> HUD's approval and proposed by certain members of the ICC, which
> indirectly
> but undoubtedly provides a means for builders to weaken existing standards
> for fully accessible homes in various states and local areas.
>
> FHAA-Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988--A federal Act that requires a
> significant number of disability access features (but not enough features
> to
> constitute full access). in all new, multi-family housing in the US, both
> publicly and privately funded.
>
> ANSI A117 A portion of the American National Standards Institute code,
> adopted by many state and local jurisdictions, which provides standards
> for
> full access (more extensive than FHAA standards) in a small per centage of
> dwellings designated as officially accessible
>
> HUD The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
>
> NAHB The National Association of Home Builders, the primary membership
> organization of for-profit home builders in the United States.
>
> Excerpt from Marilyn Golden's letter:
>
> --To the ICC document entitled "Code Requirements for Housing
> Accessibility"
> (CRHA), an appendix has now been added, Appendix C, which is extremely
> detrimental to the interests of people with disabilities. It identifies
> where CRHA "exceeds" the requirements of the Fair Housing Amendments Act,
> including substitute code text to remove the "excessive" requirements.
> This
> could lead directly to the significant weakening of state standards
> requiring accessible housing.
>
> Further, by publishing this appendix, the ICC undermines two of your own
> standardized procedures. First, your code development process is supposed
> to
> be, and usually is, a public process, according to very strict guidelines.
> However, the inclusion of this Appendix has been anything but a public
> process. A press release from HUD about the document said that the CRHA
> "was
> developed by the International Code Council (ICC), with the participation
> by
> the government at all levels, industry groups and advocates for people
> with
> disabilities." However, contrary to this statement, the decision to
> include,
> in any form, identification of provisions that exceed the Fair Housing
> requirements was made solely by HUD, ICC, and the National Association of
> Home Builders, behind closed doors and with no opportunity for input by
> advocates for people with disabilities.
>
> Second, if this appendix is published, it brings about a situation which
> is
> tantamount to the ICC publishing one document, the ANSI A117 accessibility
> standard, and also publishing another document ("Code Requirements for
> Housing Accessibility") which says "Here's how to amend our other
> document,
> the ANSI A117 standard." To the average individual who is not closely
> involved in this issue but who reads the ICC's documents, it would appear
> that the ICC is publishing information about how one of its own standards
> should be changed. However, the ANSI A117 Committee's Standard clearly
> states that its section that parallels the Fair Housing Act Architectural
> Guidelines is intended only to supplement, and NOT supersede, the stricter
> requirements for fully accessible housing.
>
> It is critical that the ICC not allow anyone, such as, in this case, the
> National Association of Home Builders, to single-handedly revise the
> content
> of the ICC's codes and the ANSI A117 standard for which it serves as the
> secretariat. If Appendix C is published, that action would suggest that it
> may be appropriate for others to question the ICC's status as the
> secretariat of the ANSI A117 Committee due to procedural malfeasance.
>
> Therefore, the ICC must either remove Appendix C, or must reach the
> decision
> NOT to publish "Code Requirements for Housing Accessibility."-
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Marilyn Golden, Policy Analyst Disability Rights Education and Defense
Fund
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
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>
> Adrian Higginbotham.
SURFACE
Salford University, Research Focus on Accessible Environments.
E-mail [log in to unmask]
tel: (44)-161-2954939
fax: (44)-161-2955011
web: http://www.scpm.salford.ac.uk/surface/
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