Transcript The Case for Visitable Housing

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Current situation
Visitability defined
Costs
Overlap/Contrast with Universal Design
Progress to date
Implications for planners and policy makers
Implications for builders
Implications for personal quality of life
Build homes with steps at all entrances and
narrow interior doors (especially bathroom doors).
Retrofit them later when a resident develops
a mobility impairment.
By one measure of disability,
60% of all new houses built
today in the US will have, over
the lifetime of the house, a
resident with a “long-lasting,
severe mobility impairment.”
By another measure, 25%
“Aging and Disability: Implications for the
Housing Industry and Housing Policy in
the United States”
Journal of the American Planning
Association, Summer 2008
Virtually every new house:
 One zero-step entrance on an
accessible route at the back, side
or front of the home, or through the
garage.
 All main floor interior passage
doors with 32 inches clear
passage space.
 At least a half bathroom on the
main floor, with some maneuvering
space.
(Assuming at least half bathroom already present on the main floor
of nearly all newe house plans)
House built on a concrete slab:
Zero step entrance:
5 wider main floor doors @ 2 USD
House built over a basement
or crawl space:
Zero step entrance:
5 wider main floor doors @ 2 USD
100.00
10,00
110.00 USD
500.00
10,00
550.00 USD
Renovations
Substandard living conditions
Falls
Isolation
Caretaker health impact/stress
Institutionalization
Widen one door $700
Modify one entrance
$3,500
• 84% of people over 50 prefer to
remain in their existing home
as long as possible. (AARP ‘04)
• Total spending on nursing
home care in 2005 in USA: $122 billion
• % paid with public dollars: 60%
(U.S. Dept of Health and Human
Services, 2007).
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Who are planners?
 Current housing strategy as stated in many community plans needs
rethinking
Three motivators for planners:
• Fiscal wisdom/tax implications
• Sustainability,
• Public Health.
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Strategies
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Education
New Incentives
Tying Visitability requirements to granting of funds or other benefits
Voluntary programs
Broad mandates/laws/code changes
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Individual Initiatives
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Marketing – the best of two worlds
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3 levels of access
--included routinely
--good add-ons
--items to sell as upgrades
LEED
(Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design)
• LEED-ND (Neighborhood Development)
• LEED for Homes