Category: 2024

6/25/24 For Immediate Release: A PROMISE UNFULFILLED! The North Carolina Housing Crisis Casts a dark shadow over the 25th anniversary of the Olmstead Decision


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                         June 25, 2024
ADAPT
Contact:   Nicky Boyte                                                                                  
Tel: (910) 357-1292
Email: bellbusters@gmail.com

The Olmstead Decision established the constitutional right of all people to live in the least restrictive setting of their choosing and recognized that forcing people to live in nursing homes, institutions, and congregate living is a form of discriminatory segregation. Currently, there are 427 Nursing Facilities in North Carolina, with 36,148 residents waiting to transition into the community. This is unacceptable and unconstitutional. NATIONAL ADAPT demands immediate action to reconcile and resolve this ongoing violation of constitutional rights for people living in institutional settings.
Individuals not living in institutions regularly encounter monumental barriers to obtaining and maintaining affordable and accessible housing. In North Carolina, there are over 7,000 people on the waiting list to receive home and community-based services, and the wait list for rental assistance and Section 8 housing is 4-7 years. This is unacceptable.

National ADAPT demands:
1. Immediate investment in more permanent, affordable, accessible integrated housing!
2. Expansion of the availability of housing Vouchers for Disabled people transitioning from institutions to realize the promise of Olmstead and more accessible and visible information on how to access programs for housing vouchers and community-based services in all public human health service programs and materials.
3. Immediate investment from the State to allocate more money to fund housing and increased assistance for Disabled people applying for federal programs.


ADAPT is a national grass-roots community that organizes disability rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action, including civil disobedience, to assure the civil and human rights of people with disabilities to live in freedom.
 
                                                                           ***


                                            
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 6/24/24 National ADAPT Calls on North Carolina HHS Secretary Kody Kinsley to Uphold the Olmstead Decision.

June 24, 2024

CONTACT: Nicky Boyte

bellbusters@gmail.com
(910) 357-1292

PRESS RELEASE

National ADAPT Calls on North Carolina HHS Secretary Kody Kinsley to Uphold the Olmstead Decision.

National ADAPT demands a meeting with Kody Kinsley, HHS Secretary of the NC Department of Health and Human Services, to discuss issues with Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS), in order to improve and provide HCBS to all NC citizens with disabilities to live independently in the community. This demand falls just after the 25th anniversary of the Olmstead Decision, a landmark ruling in which individuals with disabilities are guaranteed the right to live in the most integrated setting possible.


WHAT:  On Monday, June 24th, National ADAPT will be protesting to demand a meeting with Kody Kinsley, HHS Secretary of the NC Department of Health and Human Services, to discuss issues with Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS), in order to improve and provide HCBS to all NC citizens with disabilities to live independently in the community.

The demand to meet will address a multitude of issues and ensure ongoing accountability of North Carolina’s HHS office by implementing an equitable HCBS system for individuals with disabilities. People with disabilities cannot rely on churches, family, or other unpaid networks alone any longer. Additional state funding must be appropriated for people with disabilities to live integrated lives in the community. This includes a strong, well-paid community attendant workforce.

In addition, the policy for evaluating community attendant hours must be amended, to be based on an individual’s functional need, rather than their diagnosis. North Carolinians with disabilities have many barriers which prevent them from living independently in the community. They include, but are not limited to, a lack of durable medical equipment, a lack of home modifications, and HCBS funding being inequitably distributed between disability groups.

Media are encouraged to attend the protest and hear from constituents about the HCBS crisis in North Carolina.

WHERE: NC Department of Health and Human Services,  101 Blair Dr, Raleigh, NC 27603

WHEN:     Wednesday, June 24th, 2024
11:30am

ABOUT ADAPT:
ADAPT is a national grass-roots community that organizes disability rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action, including civil disobedience, to assure the civil and human rights of people with disabilities to live in freedom. Learn more about ADAPT by visiting www.nationaladapt.org and by following us on social media at https://linktr.ee/adaptnational


###