Prevalence of Accessible Housing in the U.S.

  • 1 in 4 Americans has a disabilty that affects how they interact with their environment to perform daily tasks
  • only 0.15% of all homes in the U.S. are wheelchair accessible.

Our goal at The Universal Design Project is to increase the prevalence of universally accessible homes in the U.S. housing stock. This will provide people of all abilities more options for safe and functional homes within their communities.

Based on this analysis of the accessible housing stock, there are currently very low numbers of housing options on the market that can be modified to meet changing needs, plus the amount of wheelchair accessible homes is less than one percent!

The CDC indicates that 1 in 4 people in the U.S. have a disability that affects how they are able to perform daily tasks. These two statistics alone can help us understand that there is currently a mismatch in the number of homes available for the people who need them.

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Kaitlyn Richardson Avatar

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Kaitlyn Richardson

3 responses to “Prevalence of Accessible Housing in the U.S.”

  1. Kristi Saul Avatar
    Kristi Saul

    Is there any place online where statistics for where the most universal design apartments and houses are located?

    Reply
    1. Scott Pruett Avatar
      Scott Pruett

      Hey Kristi,

      That’s a good question. To our knowledge, that data isn’t tracked anywhere. It would definitely be useful, though! My assumption is that there would be a higher prevalence of such homes in areas where the population skews towards more older adults AND where there’s regularly new homes being built.

      -Scott

      Reply
    2. M Slighte Avatar
      M Slighte

      This is from the 2011 American Housing Survey which seems to be the most recent?

      ” Although approximately one-third of units have Level 1 accessibility features and are potentially modifiable, fewer than 5 percent of units have the features needed to accommodate a person with moderate mobility difficulties. The percentage of wheelchair-accessible units is even smaller; less than 1 percent of all units are equipped with features that would allow a wheelchair user to live independently.”

      Reply

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