"As we highlight Fair Housing Month, today's announcement illustrates the Administration's commitment to expanding housing opportunities for people with disabilities," Martinez said. "We will vigorously monitor the Housing Authority's compliance with the terms of these agreements to ensure fair housing for all Americans."

Among other steps, under the agreement the Boston Housing Authority will:

• Make 5 percent of its housing stock (about 13,800 units) fully-accessible to persons with mobility impairments. Structural modifications must begin no later than July 1, 2002 and must be completed by December 30, 2005.

• Develop uniform communication practices to make information concerning BHA programs accessible to persons with disabilities and provide routine notice on all public documents of the rights of persons with disabilities to request reasonable accommodations.

• Promote consultation with advocates for persons with disabilities and ensure that whenever accessible units are available, and there is no one on the waiting list needing one, the vacancy will be referred to a statewide registry of accessible housing.

The Voluntary Compliance Agreement (VCA) was announced on April 5th. It stems from a review HUD began in September of 2000 of the BHA's compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and HUD's implementing regulation. This regulation prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in federally-assisted programs; requires at least 5 percent of all newly constructed units be totally accessible; and, requires 2 percent of the units meet the needs of hearing or vision-impaired persons. HUD initiated the review after HUD staff observed possible violations while visiting BHA developments in connection with other monitoring.

The BHA also agreed to adopt new reasonable accommodation procedures and develop criteria for determining whether a request is "reasonable". The Authority further agreed to expedite accommodation requests for vision and hearing impaired tenants and applicants.

This is the second major housing authority within six months to sign a voluntary agreement. In December, the District of Columbia Housing Authority agreed to make more than 500 of its public housing fully accessible for people with disabilities.

Read the full news release.