Access to appropriate and affordable housing is a human right and is critical for promoting health, safety, dignity, inclusion, and community participation. Unfortunately, there are several challenges people from the spinal cord injury / dysfunction (SCI/D) community face in obtaining accessible housing. To help address some of these challenges, our team undertook a three-year multi-phased study to co-design an evidence-based Home Accessibility Tool-Kit (HAT), which is a curated to Canadian and international resources on accessible housing design, including national standards, universal design guides, and information about legal rights and finances. In this presentation, an overview of the various study phases will be highlighted to showcase how they informed the co-design of HAT.

Dr. Sander L. Hitzig is the Program Research Director and a Senior Scientist at St. John's Rehab Research Program (Sunnybrook Research Institute; Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre) and an Associate Professor, Affiliated Scientist in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute and in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Dr. Hitzig holds the John C. and Sally Horsfall Eaton Chair in Rehabilitation Research. His program of research evaluates the impact of disability on health and quality of life, identifies factors that promote health and social well-being in the community, and develops evidence-based strategies to optimize the delivery of integrated models of care.