Visitable Housing Forum March 23rd 2016 - Trudy Beaulne, Social Development Centre Waterloo Region , panel presentatino.

1. From Concept to Reality:
Policy Change Directions
Presentation by
Kitchener-Waterloo Task Force
March 23, 2016

2. Local VisitAble Housing Task Force
Develop awareness and commitment to
implementing VisitAble Housing
in Waterloo Region
Local Task Force is one of six (6) across Canada working with
Canadian Centre on Disabilities Studies (Winnipeg, Manitoba)

3. Local Task Force
 Members reflect different perspectives
 Role:
 Planning stakeholder engagement
 Input and testing of research and education materials
 Engagement stakeholder groups e.g. making presentations

4. Policy Change Directions
 Building Code – specific definition of visit-able
housing features as a basic standard
 Ontario’s growth plan to increase intensification and
the Accessibility for Ontarians With Disabilities Act
and Standards – these could be competing visions
 Federal, Provincial and Regional affordable housing
investments – this is one area that could require visit-
able housing as a standard to qualify for funds which
could be included at any or all orders of government

5. Local Policies and Guidelines
 Municipal official plans – all in Waterloo Region have language that
would encourage visit-able features– City of Waterloo encourages visit-
able homes: we ask that this language be strengthened to acknowledge
VisitAble features as a basic standard for accessibility
 Technical guidelines for less well known no step entrance solutions –
provide assistance to builders and work with builders and developers to
provide consistent support
 Zoning Bylaws – simplify these and harmonize across municipalities
and identify areas where there is potential conflict or not well known
designs – tie this to the technical guidelines
 Ask all site and development plan submissions to identify if these
include VisitAble features so these can be highlighted during the
assessment of applications

6. Thank You
For more information about the local VisitAble Housing work:
Trudy Beaulne, Executive Director, Social Development Centre Waterloo
Region
Email: trudy@waterlooregion.org
Phone: 519-579-1096 X *3006
www.waterlooregion.org/visitable