Mayor Lovely A. Warren announced today that the City, in partnership with the Center for Disability Rights and members of the housing development community, has adopted construction guidelines to ensure new one- and two-family housing units are built in a manner that people with disabilities can visit with minimal assistance.

“As we strive to preserve the legacies of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass, the City of Rochester is committed to providing equal rights and equal opportunities to all of its residents and visitors, including individuals with disabilities,” said Mayor Warren. “The Visitable Home Design Guidelines represent an important step toward our larger goal of creating a city housing stock that is accessible to everyone. I wish to thank the Center for Disability Rights and all of our partners in the housing development community for helping us transform Rochester into a city that is welcoming and accessible and supporting our efforts to create more jobs, safer/more vibrant neighborhoods and better educational opportunities for our citizens."

“We’re excited that the City of Rochester has released new Visitability Guidelines that will increase accessible housing options in the city. These guidelines will lead to the creation of more accessible homes for disabled people and allow more seniors to age in place in our community,” said Stephanie Woodward, Director of Advocacy for the Center for Disability Rights. “The Visitability Guidelines are another sign of the City’s commitment to the disability community, and we continue to celebrate all of the efforts Rochester is making to become more accessible and welcoming to people with disabilities.”

The Visitable Home Design Guidelines will ensure that that new one- and two-family homes can, at a minimum, be visited by individuals with disabilities. They have been adopted as a requirement for the construction of all one- and two-family housing units that receive support from City-sponsored programs.

The Guidelines were developed in partnership with the Center for Disability Rights and incorporate valuable feedback that members of the housing development community provided at a workshop on housing visitability hosted by the City last spring.

Visitability is a design method that incorporates simple basic accessibility features as a normal construction process into newly built single-family housing. The three main visitability features are: a no-step entrance; doorways with 32 inches of clear passage space; and a half or full bathroom on the main floor.

To view the guidelines, visit www.cityofrochester.gov/developmentguidance/