Exploring Stakeholder Perspectives on the UK’s Regulatory Tools for Accessible Housing: Lessons for Canada

Abstract

Accessible housing is an urgent issue for countries experiencing rapid population aging. For over 20 years the United Kingdom’s (UK) building code (Part M) and Lifetime Homes Standard have been researched as leading practices to increase accessible housing stock and allow older adults to stay in their communities. This review compiles key stakeholder groups’ perspectives on these regulatory tools. Five main themes and ‘lessons learned’ were derived to anticipate potential challenges and inform proactive response for planners and policy makers in Canada and other countries when developing their own accessible housing regulation.

Keywords:

• Accessible housing
• older adults
• disability
• lifetime homes
• design standards

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).