Access for Disabled Needed at Home

An article (July 18) on a $1-million donation to Nicaragua by Aris and Carolyn Anagnos to build accessible housing for war veterans states that the initial $400,000 will be spent to design and build houses and make them accessible to the disabled.

I am sure that there is great need for this type of aid in Nicaragua, but the need for accessible homes in our country should be their first concern.

As an advocate for the disabled, I have been constantly arguing for government action to require accessible housing. In Los Angeles there are no regulations for single-story homes or access to single-family homes. There are no access regulations for condominiums or townhouses. There are weak state regulations for apartments, but loopholes in the laws are used daily by developers, who have less social concerns than the Anagnoses, to circumvent these requirements.

On a daily basis we learn more of the lack of housing for the poor and low income. The homeless problem is a moral disgrace. The number of shelters is far too few and those that will accept the disabled are rare.

The numbers of disabled and poor that need accessible housing in America far exceed the entire population of Nicaragua. The sincere efforts of the Anagnos family and others of wealth should be directed to aiding those in our country before going south.

RICHARD SMITH

Encino

Smith is a member of the Los Angeles City Advisory Council on Disability .