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Aging Population Spurs Demand For Barrier Free Designs

By William Henry PhD

Lifestyle of Caregiver Impacted by a Disabled Partner or Parent

As the ‘Baby Boomer’ population retires many envision a stress free life funded by their pension funds, social security and the recent proceeds from the sale of their primary residence. Perhaps purchasing a low maintenance condominium or rental of a highly ‘amenitized” apartment is on the horizon. The unanticipated factor is in that in many cases a crippling disability is experienced by one party or another in a committed relationship that was never contemplated. In some cases one partner becomes disabled and the other is obliged to become the caregiver. Also, in many instances the ‘Boomer’ population must provide continuing care to survivors of their ‘Greatest Generation’ parents. The carefree life vanishes and both the challenged individual’s and the care-giver’s life styles are impacted– perhaps for the rest of their lives.

In a home that is not ‘barrier free’ this can become a daunting challenge. Just ask a resident that may have recently broken a hip or leg and now is obliged to negotiate barriers. Elements that were heretofore easy to traverse such as level changes, showers, toilet areas, elevated thresholds, kitchen cabinetry and door swings may become hard to traverse and/or insurmountable to negotiate.

Discrimination Law Suits Filed Based Upon Fair Housing Act Violations That Allege Deficient Multifamily Designs
These barriers can constitute the basis of Fair Housing Act discrimination law suits. We have served as experts retained by both plaintiffs and defendants for such complaints. While single home design is NOT governed by the ‘Barrier Free’ guidelines prescribed in the latest Federal Fair Housing Act guidelines, income generating multi-family housing is. The Fair Housing Act design guidelines are issued by the Justice Department and are enforced by Federal Law. Thus complaints are adjudicated in Federal Court. In such discrimination law suits, local building codes may not be germane. Whether local building officials (plans examiners) issued permits for the improvements in question may not be relevant to Fair Housing Act violations. Many landlords become surprised when faced with such complaints when the building officials do not come to their defense.

What these rental property owners fail to understand initially is that the complaint may not stem from a building code violation. Some of these Federal Guidelines may have been enacted subsequent to the time of the issuance of a building permit. The improvements may or may not be ‘grandfathered’ and therefore exempted. In short the goal is that a percentage of at least the ground floor apartments that were constructed and occupied subsequent to 1991 must be barrier free. The site areas surrounding the rental apartments occupied prior to 1991 must ALSO be barrier free unless the improvements required to achieve a barrier free environment as called for in the American Disabilities Act Guidelines (ADAG) are ‘not readily achievable’
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Those dwelling units in multi-family housing complexes accessible via corridors served by elevators are subject to the Fair Housing Act provisions as well as those on the ground level. A certain percentage of units must contain accommodations to facilitate accessibility by challenged individuals, or at least be “adaptable” in order to meet these guidelines.

Market Demand Could Spike for Single Family Home and Condominium Unit Designs that are Barrier Free
While our focus has been to bring these rental complexes into Fair Housing Act conformance an emerging design market is the retrofit of existing homes to accommodate the disabled. This is especially true in retirement Mecca’s like Florida. One of our architects recently designed a home for a doctor and his wife who is wheel chair bound. As a result of careful accessibility planning incorporating ramps, elevators, roll in showers, accessible routes, properly designed cabinetry and the like, the wife can negotiate most of the environment without any assistance. This frees the husband from more caregiving. Single family homes and condominiums that feature such accommodations may see a spike in sales demand for the foreseeable future due to the aging population.

Reliable Group, LLC Architects AA# 0003523 is a well-known architectural and construction management firm based in Tampa, Florida. RGA is headed by Dr. William Henry, both an architect and certified expert witness who issues opinions and testimony concerning design and construction related matters. Having designed over 250 landmark buildings in the state of Florida, he has represented and testified for both plaintiffs and defendants in cases involving code violations such as associated with design and construction defects as well as American Disabilities Act – ‘ADA’ violations. William Henry, PhD (Bill) may be reached at (813) 226.2220 or bhenry@rga-design.com.

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