Durable and Affordable Accessible Housing

Goals of Innovation: 1) To Provide home ownership opportunities for persons with disabilities. 2) To provide housing that is affordable, not only at the point of purchase, but also in terms of utility, maintenance and repair costs ﾖ because persons with disabilities frequently live on very limited, fixed incomes.

Description: Beginning in 2002, the Madison Area Community Land Trust (MACLT) made a commitment that all housing that we build will, at minimum, be visitable by persons with disabilities, and wherever possible, be fully accessible to persons with disabilities. This duplex was the first building in our current phase of development at our Camino del Sol subdivision, and we wanted to start that project by building a home that would be accessible to persons with disabilities, in order to set the proper tone for the development. The single-family homes that will be built after the duplex will all be visitable, meaning they will have level-entrances, and a fully wheelchair accessible first floor with a half-bath [bedrooms and a full bath will be on the second floor]. This will mean that any person living in this neighborhood will be able to go over any other home in the neighborhood for dinner, shared childcare, a beer, whatever.

The duplex itself contains one barrier-free two-bedroom unit, and a three-bedroom unit with a barrier-free first floor with two bedrooms upstairs. The two story unit was designed for a household where some of the occupants required barrier-free space, while others would be able to use stairs.

The barrier-free two bedroom unit was sold to a couple, both of whom use power-wheelchairs. The two-story unit was sold to a person who uses a walker (who will live on the first floor), and who has a roommate and live-in attendant who will use the second floor. In addition, the buyer for the two-story unit had us finish off a second floor storage area, which will be used by the attendant as a living room.

Though we did not know it at the time we designed the home, the configuration of the two-story unit works particularly well for persons who require live-in attendant care, as it provides for excellent privacy for both the person with the disability as well as the attendant.

Obstacles: This was a fairly small lot on which to put a duplex, so the additional size required for accessibility posed a design challenge, as kitchens, bathrooms, and laundry rooms were somewhat larger than normal in order to meet UFAS design standards. Some of the accessibility features added cost, such as the roll-in showers and grab-bars, but these were fairly minor in light of the overall cost of the project. In some ways, the greatest challenge was making sure our builder understood all the accessibility requirements, as they had not done accessible residential construction previously. Additionally, we had to pay particular attention to landscaping the back yard, in order to provide a maximum of access to persons who use wheelchairs. Mostly, it just required a degree of mindfulness ﾖ which was not a problem, given our interest in doing accessible housing.

Cost Information: The items that increased cost for this project were: (1) roll-in showers, (2) grab bars, (3) the additional square footage required to meet wheelchair turning radii in the bathrooms, kitchens, and utility rooms, (4) the additional costs incurred from building a ranch unit [roughly twice the roof area per square foot as compared to a two-story unit], and (5) the additional fill necessary to create a wheelchair-accessible backyard.

Additional Benefits/Drawbacks: Initially, we anticipated that the two-bedroom unit would be ideal for persons who require a live-in attendant. As it turns out, the two-story unit met that need far better, as it affords much better privacy for the person with the disability and the attendant.