Southwest Center for Independence is an independent living center for persons with disabilities. While, at this time, it is not the policy of HUD to grant reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities regarding medical marijuana use in federally subsidized housing, nonetheless, according to its published policies, HUD allows the tolerance of medical marijuana for all tenants, disabled or not, to be determined by the local housing agency. We have worked with people with disabilities who were prescribed medical marijuana, and who used medical marijuana in their subsidized homes. Eviction or even termination of tenancy for these tenants would mean immediate long-term homelessness, and may very likely prevent any re-entry, at least for some years, into other federally subsidized housing properties.

People with disabilities are welcome to come to our center to work on varied efforts, but homelessness is one of the most critical issues. A great percentage of people experiencing homelessness are people with disabilities. Prevention of homelessness is a major effort in our advocacy services.

Jeanette Abella, Southwest Center for Independence

Durango