United Spinal’s Accessibility Services staff works to provide education on residential accessibility requirements.

By Dominic Marinelli

To represent the housing needs of members of United Spinal Association, the organization’s Accessibility Services staff serves on numerous national building code committees, including participating as voting members of the American National Standards Institute’s ANSI A117.1 Standard on Accessible and Useable Buildings and Facilities Committee.

A117.1 is referenced by the International Building Code (IBC), the code referenced by most of the states in the country (see states in green on map). This is important in ensuring that accessible apartments are available to wheelchair users as both the IBC and A117.1 are considered safe harbor documents by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in achieving compliance with the Federal Fair Housing Amendments Act.

In addition to work on A117.1, United Spinal Association has a long history of advocating for the improvement of accessibility requirements in state and national building codes including the Fair Housing Accessibility Guidelines and the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines.

Accessibility Services staff is also involved in task groups dedicated to ensuring that the 2008 edition of A117.1 remains harmonized or consistent with federal accessibility standards and is consistent with the scoping requirements of the IBC.

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) was amended in 1988 to include requirements for newly constructed multifamily housing developments to be accessible. The FHA Accessibility Guidelines address many aspects of construction, including widths of doors and hallways; location of light switches, thermostats and environmental controls; reinforcement of bathroom walls for installation of grab bars, and kitchens and bathrooms that are usable by people in wheelchairs as well as to common areas.

United Spinal’s work in advocating for residential accessibility requirements hits upon many of the items discussed in this month’s Action. For instance, the A117.1 committee is investigating requirements for previously exempt single-family homes in its 2008 edition. The idea is to coordinate the many visitability requirements that jurisdictions have adopted nationwide. This movement is exemplified by the Universal Home Design Act, a bill currently before Congress that has been drafted to mandate basic requirements for single-family homes, including a no- or zero-step entrance, doors providing adequate clear width, and at least a half bath on the main floor.

In order to ensure compliance with residential accessibility requirements, the Accessibility Services staff provides education seminars to code enforcement officials, design professionals, home builders and developers. To further this work, United Spinal Association applied for and was awarded a grant from HUD to perform work under the HUD Fair Housing Initiatives Program Education and Outreach. Through this grant and its partnership with International Codes Council (ICC), United Spinal will help communities ensure that more apartments and condominiums are built to be accessible to people with disabilities.

The workshops conducted with the grant funds will educate homebuilders, contractors, realtors, design professionals and code enforcement officials, disability and fair housing advocates, and state and local governments of the regulations and requirements of the FHA, the FHA Accessibility Guidelines, and the A117.1 in jurisdictions throughout the country that do not have codes that are consistent with the Fair Housing Act.

United Spinal Association has also sought the assistance of the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) in reaching out to developers. A HUD-commissioned study found that if builders comply with the Fair Housing Act during construction, multifamily dwelling-unit costs rise only about one-half of one percent. Remodeling a building that has already been constructed, however, can cost a great deal more.

For more information about the dates of these Fair Housing Accessibility Workshops visit our Web site www.accessibility-services.com or contact Jennifer Perry at 610-757-0044.

Dominic Marinelli is director of Accessibility Services.

Reprinted with permission of the International Code Council, www.iccsafe.org