For many Calgarians, an accessible house is something that’s easy to overlook. It’s not until a parent struggles to get down the stairs or a devastating health diagnosis that a familiar home can suddenly turn into a series of obstacles.
At Accessible Housing’s engaging in accessibility event Thursday, held during National Accessibility Week, the message was clear — this is an issue that can affect anyone at any time.
“Accessibility is not a niche issue, it is a community issue,” CEO of Accessible Housing Krista Davidson Flint said. “We’re often fond of saying we will all become disabled or die trying. Every Canadian will experience this either personally or through someone that they love.”
Yet accessible housing remains in short supply in Calgary. According to Accessible Housing, only an estimated two to three per cent of affordable housing units are fully accessible. Across Calgary’s broader residential market, only 10 per cent of residential units are fully accessible.
The event brought together Calgarians working to make the city more accessible, from advocates to industry professionals, to discuss what can be done to make Calgary’s housing inclusive for all. At the centre of that discussion was a push to rethink what accessible housing actually means and who it is for.
“We’re not building accessible homes and residences for people with disabilities that we all benefit from,” Board Chair Kevin Haughton said. “It’s for all of us, including people with disabilities.”
Davidson Flint said that accessibility features can benefit everyone, not only those with disabilities. It means parents can care for their special needs child or support aging parents, that seniors can age-in-place in a community they love and Calgarians can live a life not defined by their disability.
Related‘Improvements in new home construction’ would help solve accessibility challenges, says realtor
For Marti Bogue, a Calgary realtor and founder of Adaptable Living, the conversation extends beyond disability and into how homes are designed for life’s inevitable changes.
“Everybody at some point probably will have a mobility need that requires their house to work with them through that, or adapt through that,” she said. “I think at the end of the day, what Adaptable Living is doing is bridging the gap between real estate and accessibility.”
Bogue has been running Adaptable Living for the past five years, which services include help finding accessible homes, building and designing custom homes and renovating homes to be accessible.
Bogue said many accessibility features are relatively simple to incorporate into new homes, such as widening doorways or better-designed kitchens.
“It would be so easy if homes were designed to be more universally accessible,” she said. “We can’t meet everybody’s needs, but we could sure make improvements in new home construction.”
Building homes as accessible from the start would actually be cheaper in the long run, according to Davidson Flint.
“We know that if accessibility is considered from the beginning, it represents between one and three per cent of the building costs,” she said.
John Karperien, 68, poses in front of Inclusio, an accessible housing location in northwest Calgary on Thursday, June 4, 2026. Karperien has MS and formerly worked as a baker, then attended SAIT for business courses.
‘None of us know what’s going to happen’
Making homes accessible from the start also provides peace of mind for when life inevitably throws a curveball. John Karperien, a resident at Accessible Housing’s Inclusio building, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis two months short of turning 40, and for him it was a no-brainer to make housing accessible.
“None of us know what’s going to happen, so it’s important to have it done right away,” he said. “Or people have relatives or family members that are already disabled, it’d be nice if they could move into a house (to be cared for).”
But the issue extends beyond new housing construction, as many Calgarians cannot afford a custom build. Tolu Enaibe, the director of programs for Accessible Housing, said many Calgarians with disabilities not only cannot afford a new unit, but also want to stay where they’ve built their life.
“A lot of them live in existing homes within community, with their families, with their support systems,” Enaibe said. “For a lot of them, the challenge is not finding a new accessible home, the challenge is that they cannot move to a new accessible home.”
Through its Residential Accessible Design (RAD) Renovations Program, Accessible Housing helps residents modify existing homes to better meet their needs. Enaibe said the program has completed more than 300 accessibility modification projects over the past decade.
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