Disability Rights Pennsylvania Improves Accessibility of Homeless Shelters and Services in Philadelphia

June 6, 2025 | by sau1admin

SAU1 is proud to share the information below from our friends at Disability Rights Pennsylvania. Keep reading to find out more about how they've made homeless shelters and services in Philadelphia more accessible.

Friends-

In the Spring of 2023, Disability Rights Pennsylvania (DRP), along with Project HOME, the Homeless Advocacy Project, and Liberty Resources, Inc., wrote Philadelphia’s Office of Homeless Services (OHS) to express concerns of disability discrimination in the City of Philadelphia’s emergency housing shelter system. In response, the City met with DRP and its partners regularly over a two-year period to address specific concerns and implement specific reforms. Pursuant to those discussions, the City has committed to making numerous improvements, including the following:

Training

The City has implemented disability training for shelter staff and administrators and committed to making disability training a regular part of staff training going forward. Specifically, the Law Department and Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities have provided several trainings to OHS, the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS), and frontline shelter staff to improve staff awareness of disability issues. Training topics included disability, accessibility, reasonable accommodations, and service and assistance animals.

Accommodations

The City has implemented a reasonable accommodations process initiated by asking all shelter participants if they need reasonable accommodations during screenings at intake and at shelter placements; incorporating reasonable accommodation requests into the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS); and creating a process to appeal denials of accommodation requests.

Through the newly established appeal process, if a shelter participant’s request for accommodation is denied, the participant can appeal that decision to OHS’s Director of Compliance. Appeals can be submitted via an online form (available here: https://phila.formstack.com/forms/reasonable_accommodation_appeal_request_form), via email at ComplianceUnit@phila.gov, via fax at 215-686-7142, or via mail at Jerome Hill, MSB, 1401 John F. Kennedy Blvd, 10th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19102.

For more information: https://www.phila.gov/media/20250303161537/ohs-flyer-reasonable-accommodations-shelter.pdf

Service and Assistance Animals

The City has updated its policy on service animals and assistance animals to make clear when such animals are permitted in shelters, consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Fair Housing Act.

The updated policy explains that in determining whether an animal qualifies as an assistance animal that must be permitted into shelter as an accommodation, staff may only ask two questions: (1) whether the animal is required because of a disability or impairment; and (2) what work, task, assistance, or support the animal provides.

The updated policy also makes clear that such animals cannot be kept out of shelter due to reasons like staff allergies or fear of dogs.

For more information: https://www.phila.gov/media/20250403100313/ohs-animal-assistance-policy-for-participants-20250403.pdf

Video Remote Interpreting (VRI)

The City has agreed to utilize VRI services, via GLOBO, for individuals who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

Accessibility Survey

The City has retained Direct Access to analyze the physical accessibility of up to forty-five (45) shelters throughout the City, and to complete a report detailing findings and recommendations to improve accessibility at those locations. The accessibility survey is ongoing and is expected to wrap up in 2026.

For more information: https://directaccessgp.com/us/case-studies/city-of-philadelphia/

Disability Rights Pennsylvania
301 Chestnut Street Suite 300 | Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17101
800-692-7443 | intake@disabilityrightspa.org