Austin Visitability Outcome
Saturday, June 21st, 2008 at 9:00 pm 
By Ryan BrownRecently the City of Austin considered an ordinance that would require “Visitability” features to be installed in all new homes. We had great discussion here about the costs and benefits of these requirements as well as the appropriate scope (and potential redundancies) of city building codes. See these posts and comments here:
- Mandatory Visitability for New Homes in Austin (14 comments)
- Update: Change in Proposed Visitability Ordinance (10 comments)
One of my favorite Austin blogs also had some great coverage & comments:
Austin Contrarian - Visitability
On Wednesday the City passed a Visitability Ordinance which included two requirements:
- 30” clearance on one lower-level bathroom door
- Reinforced bathroom walls in this bathroom to allow for grab-bar installation
Requirements covering entrance ramps, wall switch and outlet heights, and lever door handles did not make the final version of the ordinance. For further details here is the Statesman coverage: Statesman - Austin approves two ‘visitability requirements
With these two requirements the City attempted to find a compromise which minimized up-front costs while providing some benefits for people with disabilities. That seems reasonable.
Through passing this ordinance the City has made its position clear on some of the issues we previously discussed:
- All homes should be able to accommodate people with disabilities (up to a reasonable cost)
- It is within the city’s jurisdiction to write building codes based on visitability.
I have a feeling that some people may be fine with 30” doors and reinforced walls but may not be as comfortable with the underlying implications I listed above.
