This Hamilton family has moved eight times in eight years in search of wheelchair-accessible housing. They have yet to find it
When Khadija Zafar first held her newborn child eight years ago she couldn't have imagined how heavy that weight would become.
Zafar's son wakes up each morning and, like his younger brother and sister, waits for his mom to pick out outfits, brush their teeth, and choose which toys to bring downstairs. But as her younger children race down the stairs, Zafar scoops her oldest child up.
Her shoulders and back ache as she carries him down the stairs that separate the bedrooms from the rest of their home. She tries to conceal her heavy breathing.
I'm sorry," he says.
For Zafar, the heaviest weight is knowing a house that should feel like a home makes her child feel like a burden. Her son has spastic quadraplegic cerebral palsy - an early childhood or developmental brain injury that results in motor deficits in all four limbs. And while his wheelchair makes him independent, an inaccessible housing market has left the family trapped.
As a mother we always have so much guilt in general but on top of that, you put a child with (a) disability and the things you can't provide for them, you just feel terrible," said Zafar.
The family has moved eight times in eight years, living everywhere from Hamilton to Burlington and now Waterdown.
Despite 2.6 million Ontarians being disabled, there is no policy necessitating barrier-free housing. There is no mention of housing in the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, and the building code necessitates that 15 per cent of new builds have to be visitable but not livable for disabled people. But for families like Zafar's, the housing search is as inaccessible as the lack of options.
Khadija Zafar and her husband Lyle applied for subsidized housing, as they were students, while expecting their first child. After he was born, they moved from the general wait list to the accessible housing wait list. They are still waiting.
The family reached out to numerous community organizations but claim they never received help in securing housing from any. They reached out to co-op housing options in hopes of getting on their wait list. But Zafar was told that due to the high number of internal applicants who are hoping to make the switch from their current unit to an accessible one, Zafar would never make it to the top of the list.
Because when people move to accessible housing, it's for a lifetime," Zafar said.
Instead, they scoured the internet for a physically accessible home within their limited budget. Zafar's father is a real estate agent and spent his free time looking through listings that rarely list any accessibility information.
Peggy Stewart, a retired health-care worker turned realtor, who specializes in finding accessible homes, said that finding an accessible rental in the province is hard to do. Stewart typically has 25 homes listed that are either accessible or could be easily adapted on her website. But these listings are scattered throughout the province.
When starting as a realtor in London 19 years ago, Stewart said she was struggling to find any remotely accessible homes from looking at listings. So, she went to visit one. From the end of the street she spotted a ramp on the side of the house.
I'm thinking, blimey, I had no idea from the listing that it was an accessible house. I couldn't believe it," said Stewart.
But she said it is more common that a realtor thinks a home is accessible when it is not. After a listing agent assured her that a property was fully accessible, she brought a client to see it. When they arrived, there were steps up to the front door and the client could not go inside.
When I phoned the realtor (following the visit), he said it was only two steps.' Two steps is Mount Everest to a lot of people," said Stewart.
And accessibility is not only what is built into the home, but its location. A home atop a hill or away from accessible transit is not the accessible house that some listings make it out to be.
Zafar said their search for equitable housing has been complicated by neighbours filing noise complaints over their son's vocalizations, potential landlords telling them that they don't rent to wheelchair users as it will damage the floors, or landlords telling the family that any accessibility modifications would be considered damage and would need to be reversed before they move out.
In their last home, not only were there stairs to the bedrooms, but to street level as well.
Zafar and her husband planned their whole day around when they would take their son outside so they only had to carry him once. He would say, Mommy, can I come?' (I would have to say) I'm sorry,' " in an attempt to shield him from knowing it was too hard for her to pick him up again.
Their newest house is the best by far, said Zafar. They added a ramp in the garage so they can leave the home when they please, a backdoor lets the family watch a bird feeder in the yard, and on chilly nights they huddle around the fireplace together. But it is not the fully accessible home they dream of.
Kate Chung, co-chair of the The Accessible Housing Network - an Ontario based disability collective - said that the lack of accessible housing options is discouraging.
The need for accessible housing is a crisis. The simple solution is for the Ontario Building Code to require that all new housing be universal design," she said in a press release in which Toronto MPP Jessica Bell, who is running for re-election in University-Rosedale riding, announced she and several other NDP and Green Party canadidiates has signed the Accessible Housing Pledge.
The cost of building a new apartment is the same whether accessible or not - if it is planned from the design stage. It is renovations to conventional housing which are expensive," said Chung.
According to Chung, those who do not have access to equitable housing will likely be unable to work due to the challenges of getting in and out of the home, are more likely to need increased caregiving, and are at a higher risk for falls and ambulance calls.
People are in despair," said Chung.
Bailey Martens is a Vancouver-based staff reporter for the Star. Reach Bailey via email: baileymartens@torstar.ca