A definite great read..Jim Bean

At this moment of time… Waterloo certainly falls into the category of having a multitude of development plans coming forth in the Uptown. We are a fortunate community in a fortunate situation – which is why we should, in my opinion, lead the pack. That is our Waterloo culture, isn’t it? We don’t have a Brownfields policy – but that hasn’t prevented developers from choosing Waterloo over our neighbours (who have them). We are on the entry slope of a development curve over the next 10-15 years – shall be quite exciting to watch.

We’ve approved countless projects in the University area – with no consideration of accessibility. Are there no disabled students at our universities? I’ve been asking this same question for three years – I’m just sick of getting the same answer and feel the need to get the conversation out there.

Karen

As for the above, I’m sympathetic to your concerns, and definitely support the availability of housing that is accessible, to anyone who can be reasonably accommodated. My main point is that solutions should take into account economic realities: 1) You don’t need every single unit to be accessible, in fact I’d guess you probably don’t need more than 10% — with some additional ones being incidentally more accessible than the norm. Though it’s probably better socially for accessible units not to be clustered, you don’t necessarily need every single building to have them. 2) Developers likely face some costs (both construction and yes, aesthetics) in decisions to construct or not construct accessible units in certain kinds of developments.

Instead of bucking up and just building it, developers might take their business elsewhere, which is not a good outcome for the city. However, IF the units aren’t being built of their own accord already and if the fact that it IS a cost is acknowledged, then a subsidy or tax break (perhaps temporary) seems to me like the right way to get the market to produce a socially optimal result. (Also, a third economic reality is that while you don’t need accessible units far out of proportion to their demand, you should err on the side of a surplus rather than a deficit.)

If all buildings are to adhere to accessibility standards, then that is a choice a municipality can make, either if it is already fighting off hordes of developers or if it is willing to provide a subsidy to level the playing field with other areas — or if it is okay with less development.