By William La Jeunesse and Jennifer Girdon | Fox News
Arizona is defying a federal order to eliminate apartments for deaf seniors at a housing complex built specifically — for the deaf.
“I think it’s about the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in a while,” said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who attempted to negotiate the impasse. “There are a lot of stories of out-of-control regulators, but this just seems to be going to the extreme.”
A 2005 federal study found that the U.S. had virtually no affordable housing for the deaf. So the federal government helped build Apache ASL Trails, a 75-unit apartment building in Tempe, Ariz., designed specifically for the deaf. Ninety-percent of the units are currently occupied by deaf and deaf-blind seniors.
But now, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development says Apache ASL Trails violates civil rights law — because it shows a preference for the hearing-impaired.
