Housing Accessibility Laws: Compliance Makes
Everyone a Winner!
Housing that is available and accessible to persons with disabilities is a cornerstone of America’s disability policy. Just consider the Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA), which is a federal civil rights law that, among other things, requires those who design and construct multi-family housing to do so in a way that is accessible to people with disabilities. Many states also have passed similar legislation. Decades ago, for example, Illinois passed the Environmental Barriers Act (EBA), which is implemented through the Illinois Accessibility Code (IAC).
No wonder. The federal government estimates that more than 50 million Americans (approximately 17% of our national population) endure some kind of disability. The accessibility market is growing fast. According to federal government estimates, by the year 2030, 71.5 million baby boomers will be over the age of 65 and will demand built environments that respond to their age-related physical changes. Collectively, these Americans have billions of dollars in discretionary spending power, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
In light of this substantial and very real need, one would expect the American housing market to be ripe with options. Unfortunately, that is not the case. In fact, many building owners are woefully uninformed about the extent to which accessible housing is needed, and many design professionals remain unaware of the FHAA and other federal, state and local laws that set forth design requirements for accessible housing.
The FHAA and the EBA were passed, in part, to remove architectural barriers from the built environment and thereby afford Americans with disabilities greater access to the same housing, goods and services that are available to all other Americans. Even though a decade or more has passed since these laws were enacted, accessible housing is not plentiful. Furthermore, owners of multi-family housing properties and the professionals who design them often find themselves on the receiving end of expensive accessibility claims because they fail to meet many of the design requirements that federal, state and local laws have attempted to implement.
A Roadmap for Compliance in Chicago
Residential building owners with projects in Chicago can easily avoid such claims by adhering to Chapter 18-11 of the Municipal Code of Chicago (Chapter 18). Enacted in 2004, Chapter 18 incorporates the most stringent accessibility codes, standards and guidelines of the FHAA, the EBA and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into one comprehensive and technically coordinated set of requirements. However, it differs from these federal and state laws in a few important ways.
For example, Chapter 18 requires the City of Chicago to perform an accessibility audit of the construction documents for multi-family housing projects at the plan review stage. This should provide a building owner with the benefit of knowing—before the first brick is laid—whether a project complies with federal and state accessibility laws. In the end, owners that carefully adhere to Chapter 18 have a much greater chance of providing effective, accessible housing to those who need it, while avoiding unnecessary exposure to time-consuming and costly accessibility claims in the process.
Chapter 18 also differs in the area of building conversions. For example, the FHAA and the IAC currently do not apply to the conversion of an existing non-residential building to residential use. Unless it is technically infeasible, however, Chapter 18 expressly applies its new construction provisions to all portions of an existing building that are altered concurrently with a change to a multi-family occupancy with 20 or more units.
In some cases, Chapter 18 requires more accessible housing units than the IAC. For example, in multi-family housing properties with three stories or less containing more than 20 dwelling units, at least 2% (but not less than one unit) must be accessible. In planned developments, including those that incorporate townhouses, Chapter 18 generally requires 10% of the units to be adaptable for use by people with disabilities. Furthermore, on the construction documents submitted for an initial permit application, Chapter 18 requires the architect to show all adaptive design features in a kitchen, including elevations that illustrate what the space will look like after it has been adapted for use by people with disabilities.
Another important distinction of Chapter 18 is the detailed set of requirements for visitable units in planned developments. A visitable unit is one that is designed and constructed so that people with disabilities can approach, enter and circulate through the entrance level of the unit. The entrance level must include a habitable space of no less than 70 square feet and a toilet room that can be used by a person in a wheelchair.
Chapter 18 also may be a useful guide on Illinois projects located outside Chicago. Since it adopts the most stringent elements of the FHAA, the ADA and the EBA, adherence to Chapter 18’s requirements should prove a safe harbor for compliance with all three laws.
Copies of Chapter 18 are available online at no charge from the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities at www.cityofchicago.org/disabilities. In addition, the City of Chicago periodically conducts training sessions on Chapter 18 requirements.
Building owners who want to serve people with disabilities and aging baby boomers well, while avoiding costly and time-consuming accessibility claims, should develop a working knowledge of Chapter 18, as well as the ways in which it differs from the FHAA, the ADA and the EBA. Likewise, owners should require their design professionals to discuss with them how the design requirements of these laws will impact each project they choose to undertake.
Where accessibility is concerned, compliance is the name of the game and owners should welcome this obligation with open arms. Doing so is not just the law—it also makes good business sense.
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