Today's Accessibility Town Hall, Queen's Park

MY 3-MINUTE PRESENTATION WILL FOCUS ON ARCHITECTURAL BARRIERS IN HOUSING THAT EXCLUDE PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

The intended goal of the AODA has been to achieve accessibility for Ontarians with disabilities but one sector where we've failed miserably is housing. I think it's despicable that we're now into our 14th year of the AODA yet no standard has been created for housing; we're intentionally ignoring our human rights' obligations in housing. Worse than that, the "Initial Proposed Accessible Built Environment Standard" dated June 2009 died in 2011 due to intense lobbying against it; Chapter 13 already contained recommendations for housing. This 272-page draft document would have prevented new barriers in housing had it been implemented 10 years ago rather than eliminated. It might have actually decreased the accessible housing crisis that we're now facing.

As it stands, the Ontario Building Code continues to exempt nearly all private housing from barrier-free design requirements in section 3.8.1.1; the only exception is that 15% of units in new apartment buildings are required to be VisitAble, which is the most basic & affordable form of barrier removal in housing. This discriminatory building code policy condones architectural barriers that exclude persons with mobility disabilities from most housing. The unfortunate result is that anyone who needs housing more suited to their changing abilities has no choice but to search for a suitable renovation contractor...or build a custom home...both of which are expensive propositions. 

The myths surrounding barrier removal in housing include the following: it's ugly, it's too expensive, it's too complicated or there's no demand for it. All of these myths are false. It's not ugly, I've personally seen beautiful design in Winnipeg and also in Bolingbrook, Illinois. The cost is far more reasonable in new construction because renovating for accessibility can be up to 20 times more expensive. It's not too complicated because best practices already exist nationwide, home builders simply need to learn from their colleagues who have already done it. And regarding demand, I know there is because we have millions of baby boomers who are already seniors & experiencing a decline in their abilities...and hundreds of thousands of Canadians with a variety of mobility disabilities.

But there is hope. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation already has decades of experience with barrier removal in housing, one example being their FlexHousing program going back to the early 1990s. As well, the Canadian Standards Association has a section about housing in their B651 accessibility standards. And there are a number of accessibility professionals eager to guide home builders through the process of barrier removal.

What we need is strong leadership to move forward with human rights in housing, to ensure that architectural barriers are prevented as part of our AODA ambitions. We need housing to be welcoming, safe and sustainable...Ontarians with disabilities deserve far better than our current practice of ableism and exclusion. We must act to eliminate the exemption of housing from barrier-free design requirements in Ontario Building Code section 3.8.1.1.

THANK YOU.