Imagine visiting a town where you can walk, roll or ride right into the house you’re visiting.  Imagine being able to access the bathroom on the first floor and being able to navigate the wide hallways. In the village of Bolingbrook, Ill. visitability is a reality in all of the single-family homes built since January, 2004.

Visitability Defined
According to Daniel Buonamici, Bolingbrook Building Commissioner, visitability includes:

  • 32-inch clear doorways
  • Reinforcement in bathroom walls for grab bars
  • Raised electrical outlets and lowered switches
  • 36-inch clear passageways and 42-inch wide (minimum) hallways
  • First floor bathrooms with wheelchair-accessible clearance (pull in forward, back out)
  • One zero step entrance

Visitability Law
In 1999, Bolingbrook resident Edward Bannister, a disability advocate who uses a wheelchair, approached the village officials with the idea of building “visitability” into the new homes that were going up in the growing town.  An ordinance was drafted, but at the time, it involved only voluntary participation by the companies building homes in Bolingbrook.  In January of 2004, Bolingbrook became the first town in the U.S. to require all new homes be built with visitability standards.

“The Village of Bolingbrook currently has 2,900 single-family homes already constructed, that include visitability features,” Buonamici says.  “When all of the current subdivisions are built out and complete, Bolingbrook will have a total of 3,600 homes that include visitability features.”

Concrete Change
The Bolingbrook project was inspired by a non-profit organization called Concrete Change, located in Georgia.  Concrete Change is the brainchild of Eleanor Smith, who, for many years, was frustrated at the lack of access in the homes around her when she wanted to visit someone or find a house to rent or buy.  She began pushing for changes in the homes built in the Atlanta area despite great opposition from the builders.  In the late 80s, the local Habitat for Humanity began to incorporate basic access in their homes and the Atlanta affiliate now has more than 800 homes visitable homes so far.  In 1992, Atlanta became the first city to adopt a visitability ordinance in certain homes.

“Builders are becoming more and more receptive to the idea of visitability,” Smith says.  “City planners are becoming interested in providing access in the building stage because the cost is much higher to retrofit a home.  As a result of the high costs, their residents end up in nursing homes.”

The key to successfully implementing visitability is to get the town officials and the builders behind the idea.  “Of all of the mayors in the country,” Smith says, “Bolingbrook mayor, Roger Claar, has been the most proactive mayor to make visitability happen.”

Today, there are more than 30,000 homes built with visitability options and more and more towns are adopting ordinances.  The city of Tucson, Arizona, is the latest town to adopt a visitability ordinance for new, single-family homes.

Eleanor hopes that a federal bill, the Inclusive Home Design Act, HR 1441, will pass and require all new single-family homes using any type of government assistance to have visitability features.

For more information on visitability:
Visitability Handout

Concrete Change

See Related Articles
Here are some tips for creating an accessible and aesthetic-friendly home, in The Aesthetics of Accessibility: Wheelchair Ramps Have Beauty and Design.

See Is Your Home ‘Visitable’ for Friends with Disabilities? to learn more about making your guests with disabilities comfortable in your home.