SCIO’s Accessible Housing Strategy

The crisis, combined with a disability, heightens this problem and is putting our community in dire situations that risk their health, and even life. 

For the first time in its history, SCIO is undertaking an accessible housing strategy in a collaborative effort with researchers, developers, other disability organizations across the country and the people most impacted by the current shortage of accessible homes – people with lived experience. 

In our recent directional report, which can be accessed on our website, we highlighted the work that has been achieved to date, including:

• The pan-Canadian partnerships that have been engaged to collaborate on this work 
• A summary of the current data landscape in accessible housing and the gaps that need to be addressed to provide more realistic data  
• The emphasis on the lack of inclusion of people with lived experience in research that has been conducted on accessible housing to date  
• A summary of a consensus meeting that took place in February 2024, bringing together numerous disability organizations, researchers, developers and accessible housing end users to establish priorities for the work that will be done 
• An executive summary of a research paper that examines accessible housing policies on a global scale 
• Our efforts to engage in funding opportunities that will help support this work 
• Stakeholder engagement plans and the opportunities that are available to our community to help us advance this work and improve accessible housing  
• A comprehensive action plan with timelines  

Too many people are in dire situations – people are severely compromised because of this and are even losing their lives. It is completely inappropriate for people to have to choose medically assisted death because of a lack of housing.

– Peter Athanasopoulos, Director of Public Policy

The time to act is now. SCIO and other disability organizations continue to hear of the dire situations people are facing in an effort to obtain appropriate housing. 

“For far too many years, people with disabilities have been facing a housing crisis,” says Peter Athanasopoulos, Director of Public Policy at SCIO. “Many organizations have been at a loss on how to create effective solutions for universal design. While there has been little incremental success, the timing is now for organizations and individuals to come together and reach our goal of having universal design implemented. Too many people are in dire situations – people are severely compromised because of this and are even losing their lives. It is completely inappropriate for people to have to choose medically assisted death because of a lack of housing.”

Even among those who are housed, many live in inappropriate conditions, where they face injury on a daily basis or have to strain their bodies simply to access the entrance to their homes. Others, as young as twenty-two are forced to live in long term care because they simply have nowhere else to live that suits their needs for accessibility. 

SCIO needs our community to join us in our efforts to create more accessible housing. 

Here are ways to get involved in our work:

• Sign up for Public Policy Updates on our website to stay in the loop about progress we are making.
• Participate in research studies and share your perspective about accessible housing.
• If you have an accessible housing story, share it with us so we can raise awareness about the barriers and triumphs that people are experiencing.
• If you’re an organization that serves people with disabilities, partner with us so we can broaden our efforts and ensure all disabilities are included in the discussion.

If you have questions, comments or concerns related to accessible housing, SCIO’s Public Policy team would love to hear from you. Reach out to us at [email protected]