A Brief History of the Accessible Homes Foundation

My own search in finding a home to meet the needs of myself and my quadriplegic son led me to seek out every agency I could. Since our only income was two SSI checks, we could not qualify to own a home of our own. We were even too poor to get a home through Habitat for Humanity. After four years on a waiting list, in 1994 the Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake (HACSL) had a 2 bedroom home with a roll-in shower, ramps to front and rear doors, 34” clear interior doors, and other accessible features.

In 2000, as a member of HACSL’s Resident Advisory Board, I discovered the only accessible homes and apartments available to renters who are poor were 1 and 2 bedroom units, and a few rare 3 bedroom units. A family of 11 on HACSL’s waiting list, needing at least a 5 bedroom wheelchair accessible home, could never rent one because one did not exist!! After years of talking with every agency in Salt Lake County (and many other agencies outside the County) that helped people who are poor buy or rent homes, it became obvious that people with disabilities could not rent a home if they needed more than 2 bedrooms, and no agency would build a custom accessible home for people who are extremely poor. Hence the Accessible Homes Foundation (AHF) was organized.

In the summer of 2002, meetings were held bringing together people who worked for those with a disability, parents of children with disabilities, adults with disabilities, homebuilders, Realtors®, and other interested parties. The need for accessible housing at ALL price levels, in ALL communities was clear. Homebuilders and Realtors® needed to become educated to the home design needs of people with disabilities, and more homes need to be built to meet these needs. Criteria for a Universal Design Home, basic Fair Housing standards, and other designs have been in existence for years. However, homebuilders are not building single-family homes to these standards. Thousands of people are remodeling their homes so they won’t have to go to a nursing home, sometimes right after buying a brand new home! Thousands more are making do the best they can, lifting and carrying their loved ones daily, using bed baths instead of showers, etc. Someone needs to be an advocate and teacher working with homebuilders.

The needs of people who are extremely poor, those on SSDI and SSI, are even more critical. Owners of rental homes generally will not spend thousands of dollars remodeling their homes to make them accessible. People who are extremely poor do not qualify for any existing home ownership programs. An agency needs to build accessible 3, 4, 5, and 6+ bedroom homes, and offer them for sale or rent to people who have a disability and are poor. In the past, Housing Authorities and other agencies did, but now no one is building accessible homes. The Accessible Homes Foundation exists to meet these needs.

In August 2002, a website was started and a post office box was rented. We had volunteers pay for these, and volunteers to set up and run the website. More meetings were held, volunteers recruited, homebuilders talked to, etc. In June 2004, Jenny Gibson from the Utah Parent Center asked me to write an article for their e-newsletter on accessible housing. The resulting article Finding an Accessible Home is now posted on our website. In Nov. 2004, the Articles of Incorporation were filed with the State of Utah to become a non-profit corporation. These Articles of Incorporation were signed by Carol Edic, Shelly Petty, Edward Loosli and Marilyn Hammond. Greg Naccarato has been the volunteer computer programmer since 2002.

Many other people were helpful in promoting the cause of accessible housing and helped us to get incorporated. We hope to recruit more volunteers to help us, solicit donations to build accessible homes, and educate the world regarding the need for accessible housing.