Accessible Housing
Design Principles for Accessible and Adaptable Housing
As the average age of the general population continues to increase, so does the demand for Accessible and Adaptable Housing. Accessible Housing allows universal access to homes by people of various age groups and abilities. It also allows home owners to age in place giving them a better return on their investment. The principles of Accessible Design are not difficult to implement require subtle changes to common design standards. Adaptable design allows for a person to age in place with the option to easily add Accessible features at a later date should they become neccessary.
Accessible Housing: Dwelling units that are designed to allow universal access for persons with disabilities.
Adaptable Housing: Dwelling units that are designed to facilitate future modifications to provide access for persons with disabilities.
Accessible and Adaptable Housing
Accessible and adaptable housing enables people of all ages and abilities to stay in their community as long as possible. CMHC has prepared a number of excellent design guides to show how Accessible Design principles can be incorporated into home design.
Building Accessibility Handbook 2020
To help better understand the requirements for Accessible Design the Office of Housing and Construction Standards has created the Illustrated Commentary on Accessibility Requirements British Columbia Building Code 2018.
BC Housing Design Guidelines and Construction Standards 2019
In Section 1 Paragraphs 8.1 to 8.3 give an overview of the requirements for Accessible and Adaptable dwelling units.
Accessible Design for the Built Environment (2015)
This Standard contains requirements for making buildings and other facilities accessible to persons with a range of physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities. It was developed to fulfill an expressed need for a national technical standard that covers many different types of buildings and environmental facilities, and can be referenced in whole or in part by a variety of adopting agencies or jurisdictions.
CMHC: Minimum Environmental & Accessibility Requirements NEW CONSTRUCTION
Table A in this document provides a list of the minimum requirements required by CMHC for Accessibility and the references for each requirement.
Heritage BC Accessibility for Historic Places
Historic Places such as heritage homes are inherently inaccessible. Heritage BC has prepared a guide to help enhance the accessibility of heritage buildings without losing the character-defining elements.