Photo not that of the actual client.
“Antonio” is a veteran with service-related disabilities who lives in low-income housing in Jacksonville and receives a monthly voucher payment from the Jacksonville Housing Authority that enables him to stay stably housed. In 2018 JALA attorney Adam Thoresen helped Antonio obtain a reasonable accommodation request to increase his housing voucher payment to enable him to afford his housing.
When his subsidized housing was recently recertified, however, his landlord requested and received an increase in his rent. Unfortunately, at that point JHA actually decreased his monthly voucher payment because it mistakenly applied an outdated rent payment standard from when the original reasonable accommodation was granted three years prior.
Antonio’s financial situation had not changed since the original reasonable accommodation was requested in 2018, and he has not worked since 2010. His only sources of income are Social Security and veteran’s benefits for his service-related disabilities. Moving would have been a substantial hardship, and the increase in rent threatened his ability to stay in his home.
JALA Fair Housing Unit attorney Suzanne Garrow reviewed the case and requested a reasonable accommodation to increase Antonio’s voucher payment standard to reflect the current fiscal year payment standard. After negotiation, the reasonable accommodation was granted, and JHA retroactively and prospectively adjusted Antonio’s voucher payment standard, allowing him to remain in his home.
