DABC has made a submission to the National Housing Council as part of their public consultation process and review on the lack of accessible housing in Canada. Read our submission below or download it here. 

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Accessible Housing Is A Human Right: 10 Recommendations to End Canada’s Accessible Housing Crisis

Written Hearing Submission to the National Housing Council’s Review on the Lack of Accessible Housing in Canada

By Disability Alliance BC
June 22, 2026

Introduction

For almost 50 years, Disability Alliance BC (DABC) has been a provincial, cross-disability voice in BC. As a registered charity, we work to support people with all disabilities to live with dignity, independence, and as equal and full participants in the community. Our organization has several direct service programs that support people with disabilities across BC to access critical benefits and services, which range from provincial and federal income supports, filing taxes, legal advice and representation, accessibility, and most notably for this submission, placing wheelchair users into accessible housing.

Housing is one of the most significant barriers facing people with disabilities in Canada today. For wheelchair users and many other people with disabilities, housing is only suitable if it is accessible. A home that cannot be entered, navigated safely, or used independently is not a home at all for those who require accessible features.

The right to adequate housing is recognized as a fundamental human right in Canada.[i] Yet for many people with disabilities, this right remains out of reach. Across the country, wheelchair users are forced into institutional settings or shelters, remain trapped in unsafe or unsuitable housing, or experience homelessness because there are no accessible housing options available to them. These outcomes are not only costly to our healthcare and social systems, but they fundamentally undermine the rights, independence, and dignity of people with disabilities.

Accessible housing remains largely invisible within housing policy discussions. Governments do not maintain comprehensive inventories of accessible housing stock. There are no legislated requirements to ensure accessible units are occupied by those who need them. Accessible housing targets are often treated as secondary considerations within housing development programs. As a result, Canada lacks both the supply of accessible housing and the accountability mechanisms necessary to ensure that existing accessible homes are available to the people for whom they were intended.

The Right Fit Program

Since 2017, DABC has operated the Right Fit Program, which is a multi-partner, community-centred response to the shortage of accessible housing. It uses a peer-led model to directly match wheelchair users with accessible housing, supporting them through every stage of the process, including housing search, application, move-in, and coordination of independent living supports. Its core functions include:

• Identifying rental housing that meets physical accessibility requirements
• Matching individuals to suitable units based on accessibility, support needs, and location
• Coordinating housing subsidies and home support

Unlike other housing support services, the Right Fit focuses specifically on accessible unit matching and placement coordination, ensuring housing is not only available, but functional and sustainable for wheelchair users.

Over the past nine years, the program has operated successfully in Metro Vancouver with proven outcomes, and has recently expanded to the Capital Regional District in BC as a result. The program has so far facilitated 208 housing matches, placing 371 people with disabilities and family members in stable, accessible homes. Following placement, 83% reported improved housing accessibility.

The RFP is the only program of its kind in Canada. It has been cited in research by the Sunnybrook Research Institute as the leading model for addressing the mismatch between accessible housing supply and demand.

The success of the Right Fit Program demonstrates that accessible housing challenges are solvable. However, it also reveals significant systemic failures within Canada’s housing system. The program exists because governments have not established coordinated access mechanisms to identify and track accessible units, prioritize tenants who need them, or connect housing with support services.

Demand for our services continues to grow, with 213 applicants currently on our waitlist. Over half of our placed clients had searched for accessible housing for more than one year prior to accessing our services; some for over five years.

Our work on the Right Fit program provides a unique window into the barriers facing wheelchair users and their families. They also inform the recommendations outlined in this submission.

Accessible Housing Requires National Action

The experiences of our Right Fit Program demonstrates that Canada’s accessible housing crisis is not simply a matter of insufficient housing supply. Rather, it is the result of systemic policy failures that have left people with disabilities excluded from housing systems that were not designed with their needs in mind.

Drawing on nearly a decade of experience operating the Right Fit Program and supporting hundreds of wheelchair users to secure accessible housing, DABC recommends the following actions to address Canada’s accessible housing crisis.

Recommendations

1.    Enact legislation that will require accessible housing units to be tenanted by people who need the accessibility features

Current accessible housing policy focuses primarily on creating accessible units, but insufficient attention is paid to ensuring those units are occupied by the people for whom they were designed.

Before DABC established the Right Fit Program, accessible units were routinely rented to tenants who did not require the accessibility features. The result is that wheelchair users and other people with disabilities remain unable to access housing that meets their needs. Because tenancies often last for many years, each accessible unit rented to someone who does not require accessibility features effectively removes that unit from the accessible housing supply for an extended period of time. This creates an artificial scarcity within an already limited market.

DABC is aware that when new-builds are commissioned, developers may get extra “points” for building a development that contains a certain number of accessible units, however if those accessible units are not being tenanted by people who need the accessibility features, this defeats the entire purpose of why governments incentivize developers to build those accessible units. The government’s investment into accessible housing thereby fails to achieve their intended outcomes.

Accessible units should be treated as a scarce public resource; governments should establish mechanisms that prioritize accessible units for people who require accessibility features. Without tenancy protections, accessible housing policy risks measuring accessibility by units constructed rather than people housed.

2.    Create transparency and accountability in the accessible housing supply through a national registry

One of the most significant barriers to addressing Canada’s accessible housing crisis is the lack of information surrounding existing accessible housing stock.

Through the Right Fit Program, DABC conducts extensive outreach to housing providers to identify accessible units, assess accessibility features, and match applicants to appropriate homes. This work has resulted in what is likely the most comprehensive inventory of accessible rental housing in Metro Vancouver. To our knowledge, no comparable inventory exists nationally.

Governments cannot effectively manage, preserve, or expand accessible housing supply when they do not know where accessible units exist, what accessibility features they contain, or whether they are occupied by people who require those features.

The creation of accessible housing registries in jurisdictions such as Massachusetts[ii] demonstrates that these systems are both feasible and effective. When accessible housing supply is both mapped and made publicly available, this further enables policy-makers to make more informed decisions on how to advance support for accessible housing in our country. Canada cannot solve its accessible housing crisis while operating without basic information about the accessible homes that already exist.

3.    Establish building requirements which ensure that family-sized accessible units are being built

DABC has observed that many newly constructed accessible units are studios or one-bedroom apartments. Developers often maximize the number of accessible units by making the smallest units accessible, thereby minimizing construction costs and maximizing revenue-generating floor space elsewhere in the building. While these units may technically satisfy accessibility requirements, they fail to meet the needs of many people with disabilities.

Many wheelchair users have families, or live in multi-generational households or require live-in caregivers. Others require additional space to accommodate medical equipment or disability-related supports. The current approach to building accessible housing supply perpetuates a harmful viewpoint that people with disabilities live alone. This disproportionately impacts families with disabled parents, families raising disabled children, newcomer families, Indigenous families, and multi-generational households.

Governments should establish minimum requirements for family-sized accessible units within residential developments and ensure accessibility targets include two-bedroom and three-bedroom housing options.

4.    Revise national occupancy standards to better reflect disability-related living arrangements

DABC has observed situations in which wheelchair users have been denied housing opportunities or faced pressure to relocate because their living arrangements did not align with the National Occupancy Standard.[iii]

The National Occupancy Standard was developed as a guideline for assessing housing suitability; it was not intended to be rigidly applied in ways that discriminate against people with disabilities. As mentioned in the recommendation above, people with disabilities may require live-in caregivers, supporting family members, and additional space for medical equipment. Applying occupancy standards without consideration of disability-related needs can result in discriminatory barriers that undermine the right to housing. National occupancy standards must be applied flexibly and in accordance with human rights obligations, particularly when disability-related needs are involved.

5.    Levels of government should work with their respective health authorities to better understand and address the relationship between housing and healthcare systems

The accessible housing crisis is also a healthcare issue. When accessible housing is unavailable, people with disabilities may be diverted into other systems of care that were not intended to function as primary housing. DABC is aware of wheelchair users who remain in long-term care facilities, hospitals, rehabilitation centres, or other institutional settings not because they require those levels of care, but because no viable accessible housing options exist in the community. This reality represents a significant failure of public policy. People should not be forced to surrender their independence because governments have failed to provide accessible housing.

In BC, long-term care facilities continue to experience significant capacity pressures and lengthy waitlists. Similar challenges exist across Canada. Yet a portion of adults with disabilities living in these facilities could live independently if accessible housing and appropriate community supports were available.

The costs associated with institutional care are also substantially higher than supporting people to live independently in their homes. Investing in accessible housing can therefore improve quality of life while reducing pressures on healthcare systems.

Governments should work with health authorities, housing providers, disability-serving organizations, and people with lived experience to better understand the relationship between accessible housing and healthcare needs.

6.    Allocate greater funding for social services that support people with disabilities to thrive in accessible housing

Accessible housing is only one part of a larger concerted effort that should be taken in ensuring that people with disabilities are supported.

The experience of our Right Fit Program demonstrates that successful housing outcomes often depend upon the availability of supports that allow people to live independently and safely within their homes. For many people with disabilities, housing stability is strengthened through access to services such as grocery delivery, housekeeping assistance, transportation supports, social connection programs and community navigation. Without these supports, individuals may face increased risks of eviction, declining health outcomes, hospitalization, or institutionalization. The lack of investment in these services reflects a broader misunderstanding of what independent living requires.

Governments should increase investments in disability-specific community supports and recognize these services as essential components of housing stability.

7.    Embed a culture of disability inclusion among housing providers

People with disabilities continue to face discrimination throughout the housing process. Our clients on the Right Fit Program have reported being denied housing, subjected to additional scrutiny during tenant screening processes, receiving misleading information about unit availability, or encountering prejudice by housing providers that they will be difficult tenants because of their disabilities.

Property managers and housing providers likely receive little or no training regarding disability and accessibility rights. As a result, people with disabilities may encounter unnecessary barriers throughout their tenancy, such as building notices being provided in only printed format, lack of planning for emergency evacuations; and misunderstandings regarding disability-related accommodations. These barriers contribute to housing instability and undermine the rights of people with disabilities.

Governments should establish disability inclusion training requirements within publicly-funded housing programs for housing providers and property managers.

8.    Require meaningful involvement of people with disabilities in the design of new builds and re-development projects

The principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us” must extend to housing development. Accessible housing is being designed and built without meaningful input from the people who will ultimately live in it. As a result, many units that meet technical accessibility standards fail to meet the practical needs of residents with disabilities.

DABC regularly encounters housing units marketed as accessible that contain significant barriers, such as a lack of automatic door openers, kitchen cabinet pull-downs, windows that cannot be opened/closed and inaccessible building entrance and exit points. These shortcomings are often the result of accessibility being treated as a compliance exercise rather than as an intentional design consideration.

People with disabilities possess expertise that architects, developers, planners, and governments cannot replicate through technical building standards alone; their involvement helps ensure meaningful public investment in accessible housing.

9.    Establish a rental-subsidy program for low-income people with disabilities requiring accessible housing

Even when accessible housing exists, it is often unaffordable. DABC has observed that many newly constructed accessible units entering the market post rents significantly higher than what low-income people with disabilities can afford. As a result, people with disabilities must face an impossible choice between affordability and accessibility. This creates a troubling paradox: if governments invest resources to increase accessible housing supply, how will people with disabilities afford to live in them?

A targeted rental subsidy program for people with disabilities would improve access to existing accessible housing, reduce housing insecurity, support independent living, and increase health outcomes.

10.    Allocating dedicated funding towards accessible housing within Canada’s Housing Plan

The sad reality we currently face when it comes to accessible housing in our country is that no level of government perceives accessibility as important enough to allocate funding to achieve its intended outcomes.

Take, for example, that DABC’s Right Fit program is the only program of its kind in Canada, using peer-led support to find, assess and match our clients to accessible units. It takes dedicated effort to ensure that people with disabilities find accessible homes. Our Right Fit program continues to be beleaguered by funding cuts precisely because all levels of government do not consider accessible housing as a priority, and further, often pass the buck of responsibility of this issue to other levels of government. Building an inclusive system for effective accessible housing in our country will require a multi-disciplinary approach from all levels of government and from various ministries. Governments should establish dedicated funding streams for accessible housing construction and retrofits, data collection and research, preservation of existing accessible housing supply, and community-based housing navigation services.

Conclusion

Canada’s current approach to housing is failing people with disabilities. There is insufficient accessible housing being built. Governments lack reliable information about the accessible housing stock that does exist. Accessible units are frequently rented to people who do not require accessibility features. Families requiring larger accessible homes are often excluded by development practices that favour smaller units. Housing affordability, lack of support services, and discriminatory practices by housing providers create additional barriers that leave many people with disabilities in precarious housing situations or homelessness.

The experiences of DABC’s Right Fit Program demonstrate that these barriers are not inevitable. When accessible housing is intentionally identified, protected, matched, and supported, people with disabilities can successfully live independently in their communities. The program’s success shows that the challenge is not the capacity of people with disabilities to thrive in community; it is the failure of our national housing strategy to ensure accessible housing is available and affordable. Without decisive action, Canada will continue to exclude people with disabilities from their right to housing.

DABC is a member of the National Disability Network and the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition,[iv] who have both provided a joint-submission on behalf of their membership to the National Housing Council. Our recommendations stand in alignment and addition to the recommendations made in those submissions. DABC further supports the Canadian Centre for Housing Rights and Sunnybrook Research Institute join-submission to this National Housing Council review.

 

[i] https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/individuals/right-housing/housing-human-right

[ii] Please see: https://www.mymasshome.org/find and https://search.housingnavigatorma.org/

[iii] https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/professionals/industry-innovation-and-leadership/industry-expertise/affordable-housing/provincial-territorial-agreements/investment-in-affordable-housing/national-occupancy-standard

[iv] https://www.bcpovertyreduction.ca/advocacy-and-impact/submission-to-the-national-housing-council-on-accessible-housing