ACCESSIBLE HOUSING (15)

PLANNING BEST PRACTICES CAN ACCOMMODATE MORE WHEELCHAIR USERS

"There is at least a 60 percent probability that a newly built single-family home today will have at least one person with a disability living in it in the next 50 years,"

says Brian Peters, community access and policy specialist for IndependenceFirst, a disability advocacy and resource center in Milwaukee.

Many planners and elected officials think accessible housing is only needed by people with existing disabilities, Peters says, 

but according to a 2018 AARP survey, while 76 percent of Americans over the age of 50 want to age in place in their current residence, a third of those surveyed say it won't be possible without major, often expensive modifications, like in the bathroom above.