Accessible housing helps every body!
If you don't need accessible features when you move in, great!
But anyone, at any age, can become disabled.
And thousands of disabled people need accessible housing right now.
So, at the Accessible Housing Network, we're trying to get more accessible housing built. We want every unit in all new multi-unit residential buildings to be built using universal design.
Universal design is not some space-age ordering of the Milky Way. It is a series of features that makes a living unit accommodate nearly anyone of any age or ability, going beyond mere accessibility. Doorways are wide, kitchen countertops are low, sinks have space to roll under, and toilets have grab bars. Essential fixtures such as light switches, electrical outlets, and door peepholes must be installed at heights that anyone can reach.
The Accessible Housing Network is a collaboration of non-profit Canadian organizations, advocating in support of people of all ages to live as they wish, in housing that is fully accessible. It's our mission to bring that about.
We invite individuals and other groups to support our campaign by contacting their elected representatives
at all levels -- municipal, provincial, and federal.
For a list of the Steering Committee members,
click here.
We are proud to have 87 member organizations joining us in the campaign for accessible housing.
Universal design is design that is usable by all people, as much as possible, regardless of age or ability. In housing, it involves a collection of features such as wide doorways, low countertops, switches in convenient places, and more.
Amazingly, this kind of construction costs only minimally more to build if it is included at the design stage!
To this end, we call on every level of government to make universal design mandatory in every unit in all new multi-unit residential buildings.
Nearly a third of Canadians have a disability.
Obituary
by Kate Chung and Sal Amenta, July 2026
Jody Negley, a member of the Accessible Housing Network Steering Committee, died June 30, 2026. She was born in 1962.
On or around her appointment with a medically assisted death, Jody Negley sent the following message in the form of a card to us:
"Thank-you for being my inspiration and partners in crime. Giving me a sense of purpose in the impossible shared belief that universal design can become standard one day. Keep it up.”
We were unprepared and shocked by this news, even though we knew that Jody had long suffered from disabling conditions and struggled with personal efforts to maintain accessible housing for herself and others like her. She had attended meetings with us regularly by Zoom, with her beloved cat nestled up to her.
What we saw clearly, though, was Jody dedicating all her strength to pursuing our shared goal: having universal design become Canada’s national standard. Jody worked imaginatively to that end by dreaming up a design competition among Canadians architects and students.
She also helped us establish a committee of professors to reform and develop curriculum regarding universal design in schools of architecture. We will continue to be inspired by Jody’s passionate dream of universal design, and will strive to realize it in her memory.
There is a message for AHN in her passing: we must do all we can, while we can, to advocate for universal design. We are no spring chickens ourselves as we press on into our eighties, and we are doing what we can to secure succession for AHN’s leadership – always seeking new blood and younger advocates to take the baton from us in this intergenerational marathon.
We must work to keep recruiting younger talent to take the baton from us – with Jody’s dream in our minds and hearts.
French version:
C'est avec une grande tristesse que nous vous annonçons le décès de Jody Negley. Notre estimée membre nous a quittés le 30 juin dernier. Elle est partie dans la sérénité.
Jody s'est impliquée pendant de nombreuses années pour la défense des droits des populations marginalisées, en particulier, les personnes en situation de handicap.
C'était une militante passionnée investie dans de multiples instances et organismes pour défendre, entre autres, l'accessibilité, le logement et les soins de santé.
Nous transmettons toutes nos condoléances à sa famille et à ses proches.
Jody, tu vas nous manquer.
Which province has the highest disability rate?
Nova Scotia: 37.9%
Read the National Institute on Ageing's detailed report on the lack of accessible housing -- and what the government should do about it!
The following organizations have contributed financially to support the
Accessible Housing Network's website, and other AHN needs:
DisAbled Women's Network of Canada (DAWN)
Live Educate Transform Society (LET'S)