‘Homes that work for everyone’: Phoenix adds accessibility requirements for new homes

By Mark Carlisle
Mail | X: @mwcarlisle

Phoenix City Council added accessibility requirements last week for all new single-family homes and townhomes built in the city.

Officials said the requirements would help those with disabilities as well as allow seniors to remain in their homes longer.

“Accessibility shouldn’t be treated as a luxury or an afterthought,” said Councilmember Kesha Hodge Washington during the June 18 meeting.

Phoenix updated its city building construction code with a 9-0 vote. Along with that was an amendment adding accessibility requirements for any new residential with three or fewer dwelling units in a structure.

The requirements include an accessible path at least 36-inches wide in every new home that connects at least one bedroom, one bathroom and one accessible entrance to the home with a route that extends to the street or sidewalk. All bathrooms must have reinforced walls to make it easy to add hand rails next to a toilet or in the shower.

The accessible doorways must not require a step. The exterior entrance must me at least 36 inches wide and the interior doorways must be at least 32 inches wide.

All doors on the floor with the accessible path that are meant for people to pass through — not pantries or small closets — must have handles and locks, if applicable, that are easy to grasp and operate. They should not require tight grasping, pinching or twisting of the wrist to operate, the amendment states.

“Some of this is just basic dignity,” said Mayor Kate Gallego. “Can you go to a friend’s house and have a bathroom that you can use? Others is the ability to age in place or move forward with an injury.”

Dana Marie Kennedy, AARP Arizona state director, spoke before council supporting the new requirements, saying these measures create “homes that work for everyone.”

Nicole Anderson, chair of the Phoenix Mayor’s Commission on Disability Issues, said her daughter was diagnosed at 15 months old with the rare genetic disorder, Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome, and needed to add these accessibility features to the house they were in the middle of having built.

Many accessibility advocates speaking before council noted the requirements could save homeowners money as they would avoid retrofitting these measures in the future and that it is significantly cheaper to address them in the homebuilding process.

Councilmember Debra Stark, who helped spearhead the requirements on council, said at her age she is thinking about how to “senior-proof” her home with things like handrails in the bathroom. Advocates stressed these measures will help residents remain in their homes longer without expensive upgrades.

Gallego said the person who brought these items to her attention was Darrel Christenson, who serves on a mayoral strategic workgroup on accessibility. Stark became emotional as she thanked Christenson, who said he’d been working on getting these measures into law for 25 years.

“To me, this is my ADA moment,” Christenson said, “as it’s so meaningful to me, and I know it will have a huge positive impact lasting for folks in Phoenix now and for the future.”

Stark also thanked homebuilders for coming to the table to compromise. She noted they don’t often welcome regulations but said they stepped up on this issue. City officials wanted to accomplish accessibility without to great of an impact to the cost of homes.

“I think we have a fine balance between affordable housing and accessible housing,” Stark said.

We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Mark Carlisle can be reached at mcarlisle@iniusa.org.

Mark Carlisle
Associate Editor | Phoenix

mcarlisle@iniusa.org

Meet Mark

Mark Carlisle joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, covering Glendale. He has since moved to the Daily Independent team, primarily covering the city of Phoenix along with other topics affecting the Valley at-large.

Community: Mark enjoys taking his two young sons to parks, the Phoenix Zoo, the Phoenix Public Library  and other fun events around the Valley. He also participates in a local book club.

Education: Chapman University with a BA in English Journalism and one in Screenwriting.

Random Fact: Mark worked at a tuxedo shop in college. Just don’t ask him to tie a bowtie.

 Hobbies: Spending time with his wife, sons and dog, watching sports and TV shows, listening to audiobooks and occasionally writing fiction or designing a board game.