Many Hands housing project aims to bridge lack of accessible supports

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a day ago

When Tara Neville envisions a residence for people with disabilities, she thinks of the best way to give individuals a sense of purpose and a home simultaneously.
She herself has cerebral palsy, rheumatoid arthritis and other disorders. Now 48, she's been living on her own for nearly 25 years, and, although it has not always been easy, she has 'juggled it just fine.'
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Neville said she kept thinking about 'the state of people with disabilities' in Ottawa, especially those without safe and supportive housing.
'We have lots of nice high-rise apartments, but none of them are very accessible,' she said. 'There's not a lot of apartments designed specifically for people with disabilities that have wider doorways, lower counters or counters that a wheelchair can drive under and work at.'
For people who rely on their parents for help in their day-to-day lives, this is not a permanent option, Neville says.
'Once (parents) are gone, a person with disabilities is very much on their own,' she said. 'They're at the mercy of extended families.
'I just really thought that it was time that the City of Ottawa take a more serious look at how homes for people with disabilities are built.'
That was when Neville reached out to Ability First Ottawa, an advocacy group for people with disabilities, to start working on the Many Hands Project.
The project's ultimate goal is to build a residence catering to people with disabilities that would include different levels of care, including independent living and nursing care.
'My thought with the Many Hands Project is, 'Let's make a place that is built for us because, as a group, 'us' isn't thought of very often when it comes to building codes,'' she said.
As of March, Statistics Canada data showed, 31 per cent of Ottawa residents had some form of disability.
'We will be seeking out funding grants from all levels of government,' a brochure about the Many Hands Project said.
No location has been set for the residence yet.
Besides safe and supportive housing, Neville also envisions a space where people with disabilities can lead purpose-driven lives, such as growing and producing their own food in a rooftop greenhouse.
'We really want this apartment complex to not only be an apartment complex, but a building with a purpose that gets everybody out (and) active,' she said. 'It teaches them skills and it gets them to have a purpose every day.'
Leonard Leeks, board chair of Ability First Ottawa and another co-ordinator of the Many Hands Project, said Neville approached the group with 'positive' ideas about serving people with disabilities, who he described as 'one of the most underfunded and underappreciated groups in Canadian society.'
'We realize that the current housing, no matter what happens, a house doesn't matter,' Leeks said. 'They're not designed properly for people with disabilities.'
Some of the design challenges of current housing supports including a lack of proper dimensions, such as countertop heights and the width of doors, and a lack of accessible routes, such as ramps.
Leeks said the project could also help people facing homelessness and disability challenges.
A Disability Without Poverty report showed one in six people with disabilities were in poverty and one in three facing poverty lived completely alone.
'The plans are designed to give a proper (apartment) for people who have disabilities, but also create a community for them,' Leeks said. When people with disabilities are isolated, he says, their physical and mental health also suffer.
While the project will take years, Leeks remains hopeful of the positive impact it will have on residents when it becomes available.
Coun. Marty Carr, the city council liaison for the accessibility advisory committee, says that, even when new units are being made accessible, people with disabilities can't afford the rent because of the cost-of-living crisis.
'This is something we see all the time,' she said. 'There's a shortage of supportive housing available for people with disabilities.'
Carr, the councillor for Alta Vista, says there are several facilities and housing units in her ward that offer these options, but it remains difficult to find supportive housing that is suitable for everyone.
'What I often hear as a councillor from people who need these units (is that) they're waiting on the list for a long, long time,' she said. 'Ultimately, the city has limited capacity.'
According to City of Ottawa data, there are 10,000 households on the wait list for social housing and wait times can be five years or more. Carr says she is aware of one Ottawa resident, who uses an electric wheelchair, who could not find a spot on the list and ended up homeless.
'The Many Hands Residence would help to alleviate the waitlist,' the project brochure said. 'It would provide a safe, inclusive, resident directed care facility where people with disabilities can socially interact, (and) live independently to the best of their abilities, within the residence.'
Carr said she would be seconding a motion by Coun. Teresa Kavanagh at the June 11 city council meeting to send supportive housing audits to provincial and federal government representatives to keep them apprised of the bigger issue on housing issues.
'This is something that really is becoming a crisis situation,' she said. 'When you look at what people have to encounter during a time when we have a fiscal crisis, a housing and homelessness crisis and you add on that additional layer of requiring accessible housing, it's extremely challenging.'
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