South Florida Developer agrees to retrofit thousands of local apartments to settle federal disabilities lawsuit

In a move advocates for the disabled heralded as a major step in efforts to make sure handicapped people have places to live, a leading South Florida builder has agreed to retrofit an estimated 5,000 units — including scores in Palm Beach County — with grab bars, ramps and other features so they are accessible to people in wheelchairs or who have other physical limitations.

Cornerstone Group Development Corp. agreed to make the improvements at more than 50 of its apartment complexes statewide, including The Preserve at Boynton Beach and Renaissance Apartments in West Palm Beach. The flurry of construction activity will settle a 2011 lawsuit filed against it by the National Fair Housing Alliance and the Greenacres-based Coalition for Independent Living Options.

In addition, the Hollywood-based developer agreed to pay the two groups $1.35 million and establish a fund to help disabled people anywhere in the state make their homes more accessible.

“It’s a huge, huge settlement agreement,” said Genevieve Cousminer, executive director of the coalition that is dedicated to helping disabled people live on their own. “There’s so little (accessible housing) available, so when a developer is building apartment complexes and representing that they are accessible, they really should be.”

HUD Threatens to Reallocate $7.4mm of Westchester County Funding

Westchester County stands to lose an estimated $7.4 million in federal HUD funding for failing to comply with the terms of the Fair and Affordable Housing Settlement. In a letter to County Executive Rob Astorino dated March 25, 2013, HUD Director of Planning and Development Vincent Hom chides the county for failing to provide “a satisfactory plan to overcome exclusionary zoning practices” or providing a plan to promote sources of income legislation that would bar landlords from discriminating against tenants who use Section 8 vouchers or other government income to pay their rent.

A silent crisis for senior citizens in Florida

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. – PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Years-long waiting lists for affordable housing and a decline in the returns of personal investments has led to a silent crisis for senior citizens in Florida, the president of the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans warned on Friday. Tony Fransetta, the FARA president, predicted the problem would get worse as more of us aged.
By 2030, he said, one in five Americans would be over 55-years-old.