COMMON SENSE NEEDED IN TEMPE CASE
The predicament surrounding Apache ASL Trails, an apartment community in Tempe designed specifically to accommodate the needs of deaf people, can be comprehended only by continually reminding yourself of the following:
If you accept money from the federal government to build something, you should expect to have to abide by federal rules.
But even that does not adequately address the quandary of Apache ASL Trails, because similar apartment complexes built elsewhere around the country have not endured anywhere near this level of scrutiny from the feds. In so many ways, the federal complaints regarding this apartment complex are simply mystifying.
The “ASL” in Apache ASL Trails stands for American Sign Language. The $16 million, 75-unit complex is designed to attract deaf people. It has lights that are colorcoded to alert people who cannot hear that, say, someone is at the door. Or a phone is ringing. It has an intricate system of video monitors that allow residents to communicate via sign language. It is designed to eliminate sight barriers.
It is, in short, a residence designed for the hearingimpaired. And word is getting out: 90 percent of residents at Apache ASL Trails are deaf or hearing-impaired, and many of them have moved to the complex from other states precisely because it is so accommodating.
Unfortunately, it is precisely that popularity that appears to have attracted federal disapproval. As reported by
Lindsey Collom, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is concerned that an apartment complex specifically designed for deaf people is attracting too many deaf people. According to HUD representatives, the complex may be in breach of federal rules prohibiting funding of projects that exclusively accommodate groups with specific disabilities.
“We have a pretty shameful history in this country of institutionalizing people with disabilities,” HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan told
editorial board on Thursday. The Supreme Court, as well as Congress, he said, have provided legal guidance in recent years that affirm a national preference for integrating the disabled to the greatest degree possible.
And that is true. But the U.S. also has a perfectly laudable history of encouraging the rights of citizens to freely associate as they see fit. In fact, the Supreme Court has affirmed that right pretty regularly, too. No one has forced a single resident at Apache ASL Trails to move there. And, by the anecdotal evidence reported by Collom, they are to be there.
We would like to believe that a measure of flexibility on the part of both sides may resolve this matter. Perhaps a more inclusive marketing approach may calm the federal critics.
But we are not really hopeful at this point.
The HUD complaints were not prompted by some rejected would-be resident who is not hearing-impaired. Someone within the agency appears to have seen media reports on the popularity of the place among the deaf and was scandalized.
HUD now says it wants to see three-fourths of the complex’s residents be people who are not hearing-impaired. But even that might not resolve the matter for the feds. It also wants the complex’s population to reflect racial balance. Thirty percent of the state is Hispanic, but the population of Apache ASL Trails is just 5 percent Hispanic.
There is a mix of missions that rational adults ought to be able to resolve here.
Apache ASL Trails was built to accommodate and attract people with a specific need. It seems to be succeeding. Someone at HUD needs to come to terms with the fact that success is not necessarily a bad thing.