A disabled Detroit veteran sought housing assistance. A program designed to help failed him
- Detroit Disability Power
- Nov 12
- 4 min read
Joseph Adams Jr. had nowhere to live after his landlord evicted him from his downtown apartment last year.
Desperate for shelter, Adams sought help from the Detroit-based nonprofit MiSide, which found him a different place to live through a federal program designed to help veterans like himself.
The westside apartment is far from the VA Hospital, where Adams — a 74-year-old Air Force vet — gets cancer treatments. Adams, who uses a wheelchair, struggles daily with simple tasks in his home. The front door doesn’t open or close properly. He has had to bathe out of a bucket for nearly a year because he can’t get into the bathtub.
Even entering the bathroom has proven hazardous. The entrance sits about an inch higher than the hallway floor. Last December, Adams said his wheelchair caught on the raised edge and he was thrown forward — falling hard to the floor and injuring his shoulder.
“Ain’t no way in the world I would have come in here, saw this apartment and moved in,” Adams said. “I served my country honorably. Not dishonorably — honorably. And this is what I live like.”
MiSide spokesperson Tracy Wolf said by email that Adams’ unit passed a habitability inspection and “met his accessibility needs for people living independently.”
She added that federal guidelines don’t mandate compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), even for disabled people.
“It is the individual’s responsibility to petition their landlord or property owner to address reasonable accommodation requests and ADA compliance issues,” Wolf said.
The property manager, Grace Property Consultants, said Adams never asked for accessibility features in his bathroom or elsewhere.
Adams vehemently denied this.
“They’re lying,” Adams said. “They’ve got pictures (I sent them) … I’ve been having a long conversation with Grace all year long.”
Adams lost his phone, which held the correspondence about his repair requests. Outlier reviewed a February email he sent to his MiSide caseworker saying that no repairs had been made.
In short supply
Adams is at the intersection of two demographics that often struggle with housing stability: veterans and disabled people.
He got help through Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF), a Department of Veterans Affairs program that aims to prevent veteran homelessness by quickly rehousing those at risk and covering part of their rent. The program contracts with local agencies for case management and long-term housing support. MiSide, formerly Southwest Solutions, managed about 500 participants last year, including Adams.
About 20% of Detroiters are disabled, according to a city report on accessible housing published in August. Nearly half of disabled Detroiters live below the poverty line.
But the city lacks accessible housing. The report notes that exact numbers are hard to pin down, but more than 93% of Detroit’s apartments were built before 1991, when federal rules began requiring a small share of units to meet ADA standards. Of those built since then, just over 700 are accessible.
“Until we get a better housing stock of accessible units, there’s always going to be these issues,” said Ani Grigorian, access consulting manager with Detroit Disability Power.
Rates of homelessness among veterans have declined dramatically in recent years, thanks in large part to targeted efforts like SSVF. From 2010-2022, there was a 55.3% drop in homelessness among veterans compared with an 8.6% drop for the general population.
And the program has worked well for some veterans. Terry Almond came to Detroit in April to care for his ailing aunt, but she didn’t recognize him because of her dementia. With nowhere to stay, he slept in his car for two nights. After calling the VA, he was connected to a case worker at Disability Network Eastern Michigan, who secured him a spot at an affordable apartment building for veterans in Highland Park.
Almond said he’s incredibly grateful for the SSVF program.
“If you use it right, you can save some money and get back on your feet,” he said.
Units in Almond’s building, which is run by Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, are less than $700 a month. It also has its own case manager, accessible units and a food pantry.
Chad Audi, president and CEO of Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, said it’s not easy to house and serve veterans — who often struggle with PTSD and a range of physical and mental disabilities.
“We wanted to make sure that it’s very affordable because they’re starting their life again, they’re reintegrating back,” Audi said. “So we make it as easy for them as we can.”
‘They haven’t done anything for me’
Grigorian said social service agencies sometimes struggle with a difficult choice when rehousing people with challenging needs.
“Is it better to get somebody in a unit and get them supportive services and get them off the street? Or is it better to wait until the right unit is available?” Grigorian said.
Adams said MiSide never made him aware of other SSVF services that might have improved his housing situation over the long term.
“They haven’t done anything for me but put me in here,” he said. “That’s all.”
Adams’ participation in the SSVF program, along with his rental assistance, ended at the end of August. Almost all the income he gets from his military pension goes to paying the $895 rent, plus utilities.
But even if he could afford it, he likely won’t be allowed to stay. Kim Johnson, a property manager with Grace, told Outlier that Adams’ MiSide caseworker did not recommend renewing his lease because he was evicted for nonpayment at his previous apartment.
MiSide’s Tracy Wolf did not dispute the account. “Ultimately, a tenant’s ability to pay rent is a factor in our recommendations,” she said.
Now Adams is back where he started: short on cash and searching for housing.
“I’m living hand to mouth,” he said. “I never thought I’d end up living like this.”
