Accessible Housing: The Search for Solutions

With rent prices soaring to an all-time high, affordability is a significant barrier – one that is impacting the disability community even more. People with disabilities are far more likely to live beneath the poverty line. Yet, waiting lists for supportive housing can be longer than a decade and accessible units across the province are few and far between. That is why SCIO has made accessible housing one of its key priorities for the next few years.

Our primary objective is to bring awareness, corroborated data and policy improvements for accessible housing across the country. We will partner with researchers in health care, academia and the disability community to gather research and present an evidence-based case for improving housing that will benefit all Canadians, regardless of physical ability.

We plan to:

Examine accessible housing standards internationally to determine how Canada measures up and where improvement is needed.

Tell the stories of people with lived experience in the SCIO community who have experienced significant challenges navigating the accessible housing system.

Highlight the work of researchers, academics and real estate professionals who are keen to enhance accessible housing in Canada.

Develop a knowledge mobilization network to disseminate our findings and make them easily accessible.

“In light of the late David Onley and Rich Donovan Report on the progress of the AODA, it is clear that we do not have solutions in place for sustainable, accessible housing in Ontario…We need to do better. Over the next few years, we hope to mobilize our community and the research community to inform the Government of concrete solutions that address this vital need. Let’s work together and make this happen.”

-Peter Athanasopoulos, Director of Public Policy at SCIO

How you can get involved:

1. Storytelling

Storytelling has always been central to the work we do at SCIO. Stories about people in our community shed light on the realities faced by people with lived experience. If you have a story about navigating accessible housing, we encourage you to reach out to us to share your experience and help us understand the critical obstacles that need to be addressed. Connect with us via email at [email protected].

2. Stay in the Loop!

Keep an eye out for our monthly Public Policy Updates and our newsletter, FYIonSCI, to stay in the loop about what’s happening in the accessible housing space. We often share key updates, such as petitions to participate in to make building codes universally accessible across Canada, articles that address the accessible housing crisis and general updates about where SCIO is with our housing strategy.