President Obama yesterday announced an initiative called Year of Community Living to assist people with disabilities. The initiative was announced on June 22, 2009, in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the landmark Olmstead Supreme Court decision. The Olmstead decision states that unnecessary institutionalization of people with disabilities is discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and orders states to craft a plan of transition from institutional settings back into the community.

The announcement and the initiative reflect some victories for advocates, but also glaring omissions on the part of the Obama administration.

On the positive side, President Obama has directed Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan to work together to identify ways to improve access to housing, community supports, and independent living arrangements. The Year of Community Living Initiative includes 1,000 new housing vouchers through HUD for individuals with disabilities transitioning from institutions and 3,000 housing vouchers to serve non-elderly people with disabilities. Also, HHS will form a Coordinating Council to coordinate the department’s “Year of Community Living” Initiative to be led by the Office on Disability.

While we celebrate the satisfaction of ADAPT’s ongoing demand for 1,000 housing vouchers targeted to people who want to leave institutions, the President’s announcement has left the disability community’s primary concerns unresolved.

The President failed to commit to ending the institutional bias of our nation’s long term services and supports. The Year of Community Living makes no mention of efforts to pass the Community Choice Act (H.R. 1670 / S. 683) and includes no response to the increasing demand that the President include ending the institutional bias as a priority in health care reform. By maintaining that institutions are mandatory and community services are optional, the President leaves community services to be the first cut when states experience budget challenges. This is happening right now, all across the country.

It would have been a real tribute to the anniversary of the Olmstead decision if the President had called for passage of the Community Choice Act and an end to the institutional bias of long-term services and supports. It is clear that advocates must maintain their efforts to push the Obama administration to ensure that 2009 is remembered not only as the year of community living, but as the beginning of many decades of community living.