The Wisconsin Office FHEO staff conducted a Housing Accessibility Forum with Independence First and the City of Wauwatosa. The purpose of the Forum was to go beyond the Fair Housing Act’s accessibility requirements in promoting housing opportunities for persons with disabilities. It provided an opportunity for dialogue regarding housing accessibility needs among members of the housing industry, particularly single family home builders, and persons with disabilities. It included the concept of "visitability" in which new homes would include at least one no-step entrance for any friend or visitor who may need to enter. One building company has already begun incorporating accessible design features in its single family homes.
There will be a rally and testimony before a select panel on housing in Pennsylvania on May 14, 1997. Consumers expected to testify total approx. 160 representing areas from all over the State. Concrete Change which supports the idea of "Visitability" in all new residences, including manufactured homes, now has chapters in Eastern and Western PA. The group has obtained an advocacy grant from the DDC.
Benefits by Dr. Adolf Ratzka, Associate Coordinator of CIB/84 "Building Non-Handicapping Environments." Department of Building Function Analysis, School of Architecture and Planning, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
Benefits of barrier-free design
The built environment represents one of the largest investments in any country. There is no other industry that is more capital intensive than the real estate industry. As with all investments the amounts to be invested have to be seen in relation to the expected gains. Thus, the additional costs of making structures accessible, have to be compared to the expected benefits. What then are the expected benefits from barrier free design?
There are basically two groups: tangible ones, that is those that can be expressed in dollars and cents and so-called intangible benefits which are more difficult, if not impossible, to quantify. Among tangible benefits will be reduction in accidents, their related costs in terms of health services and loss of production. The reasoning is that accessible environments are also safe environments (see Wrightson and Pope). Examples are ramps rather than steps, elevators instead of staircases. According to the World Health Organization "accidents cause more deaths than any single illness except cancer and cardiovascular disease" (quoted in Ratzka 1984). The number of accidents due to stairs and the associated costs to society can be and has been estimated (see for example Ratzka 1984).
Another tangible benefit is the increase in housing quality which most access features entail. Elevators are a convenience, the wider doors and hallways, kitchens and bathrooms are also quality increasing features which the housing market values in the form of higher rents or property prices. Among other tangible benefits is the decreased demand for institutional residential living on the part of many older persons who often are forced to leave their own inaccessible dwelling and move to nursing homes or old age homes. Given an accessible environment in their old home, however, many of them would be able to manage longer by themselves and stay out of institutions. Dunn (1993), for example, refers to a study which found that 50 per cent of the applicants to a residential center for the aged in Boston were capable of functioning in the community with appropriate supports and accessible housing.
In some countries old and disabled persons are eligible to use public home help or personal assistance services. Again, an accessible environment will reduce the need for such services with savings to the public as a result. In places where such services are provided not by the state but by the family, a barrier free environment results in less work for the relatives - often the daughters or wives - who will have better opportunities on the labor market outside the home which results in higher production and gains to the national economy.
Other benefits are more difficult to quantify such as the improvement in disabled persons’ freedom of movement and social mobility. Given barrier free environments more persons with disabilities can educate themselves and enter the labor market. I am aware that inaccessible transportation systems, schools and workplaces are not the sole reason for the sky-high rate of unemployment among persons with disabilities. From my own personal experience, however, I would not underestimate the daily expenditures of physical and mental energy and monetary costs that are needed to pursue gainful employment in handicapping environments.