All new homes constructed in British Columbia will be required starting next March to be easily adapted so anyone with a disability can live in them, but builders are raising concern about the expenses of the changes, prompting Vancouver to delay compliance.
Developers say the new rules will add potentially tens of thousands to the cost of all news homes because ensuring all builds can accommodate someone with a wheelchair or walker, for example, will require bigger kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms, among other changes.
B.C. is the first province to make such a sweeping requirement in its building code – one that is being heralded by disability advocates. But builders’ concerns have so alarmed the City of Vancouver, which has its own building code, that council recently voted to push implementing the changes by a year to May, 2026.
“It can mean having to increase the size of a unit by 5 to 10 per cent. Adding costs means you can’t build what people can afford,” said Anne McMullin, the president of the Urban Development Institute, the advocacy organization for the building industry.
Meanwhile, disability advocates say the changes have been a long time coming and are not as expensive as the development industry is claiming. They argue that, once builders plan in advance on how to incorporate the improvements the features will be routine in every building and will not require individualized designs.
“It’s a great thing that B.C. has said that we are doing this. We’re not backing down on this one,” said Brad McCannell, a spokesperson for the Rick Hansen Foundation, a registered charity that tackles disability barriers.
The foundation has been involved in discussions with the ministry and industry representatives on the new code requirements, which will include wider doors, plugs and switches at reachable places on wall, stronger walls and ceilings to support installation of lifts and grab bars and level entries to balconies and showers.
“The industry has had decades to do this, and they fought us every step of the way,” said Mr. McCannell, who highlighted the need for more accessible homes by pointing to statistics compiled by the City of Vancouver and the federal government, which show that more Canadians are likely to be classified as disabled in coming years as the population ages.
B.C. started consultations on the changes to its the building code two years ago and put out the proposed new regulations in December. BC Housing, the province’s social-housing agency, says it will comply fully with the regulations coming in, although some of its projects, especially seniors’ housing, are already built to be fully adaptable.
But a report by Vancouver’s city manager to council two weeks ago recommended delaying harmonization with the B.C. code over concerns the new requirements could tip already marginal projects in the city, beset by high interest rates and constructions costs, into the no-can-do zone – the last thing councillors want amid pressure from the province and the public to get new housing built.
“By potentially increasing project costs and resulting in fewer dwelling units, the new requirements could add to these pressures and impact the supply of new housing, particularly for much needed new secured rental and social housing projects which face the greatest viability challenges,” the report says.
Accessibility Standards Canada, a federal agency created in 2019, has been gradually introducing more requirements for federal buildings. But Ms. McMullin said B.C. is the only jurisdiction asking for the requirements in 100 per cent of new residential buildings.
Architects and developers have been working out how to incorporate the changes at the least cost.
“It impacts small-sized units the most,” said Bryce Rositch, a founding partner at 33-year-old RH Architects. “If you’re designing for 530 square feet, it adds 50 to 70 square feet per unit.”
He estimated that at the current cost of construction, that works out to $50,000 to $70,000 more. At one project that he developed plans for in Surrey, it reduced the number of units that could be built on the site by 9 per cent.
Mr. Rositch said municipalities with good policies to promote accessibility, such as the City of North Vancouver, require 20 per cent of apartments in a building to be accessible. The city gives the builder a bonus on the limit of buildable floor space to compensate for the extra room needed.
But Mr. McCannell argued that mandating a certain percentage of apartments to be accessible has failed. He said the units that get built under those policies end up in what he called a “wheelchair ghetto” that is comprised of the worst apartments in a project, the ones near the garbage or parking lot, clearly designed with the belief that they will only be occupied by people on government assistance.
Mr. McCannell said those units also are sometimes bought by investors, who then strip out accessible features and sell them as just larger apartments, because there is no legal mechanism to ensure they are occupied by people who really need them. Only 4 to 5 per cent end up being occupied by the people they were intended for, he said.
And, he argued, the industry has exaggerated the additional costs. It’s not 10 or 15 per cent, but something between 2 and 5 per cent – not any more than the industry had to absorb to meet other requirements brought in in recent years, such as for energy efficiency or seismic improvements.
“You need a bigger bathroom, but not as much as they say,” Mr. McCannell said.
Ms. McMullin agreed that some of the worst-case scenarios the building industry foresaw at the beginning have receded, as lengthy discussions with provincial officials and disability advocates have worked through what real changes are needed and which ones are not.
The requirements do not, for example, mandate that there have to be grab bars or lifts or special equipment already installed. They do require that builders construct homes so that it’s possible to put in specialized amenities later without having to do massive renovations to alter electrical wiring or wall supports.
But even though the protracted consultations have shown how some costs are not as high as originally thought, Ms. McMullin said, there remain challenges, such as how to build balconies or verandahs with no divider between the inside and outside and how to incorporate removable kitchen islands.
B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon acknowledged that the province is working with industry to try to figure out a way to bring in the new regulations, while mitigating costs.
“The accessibility piece is obviously very important to us, but it’s also important that these units actually get built,” he said.
Frances Bula