Winnipeg's newest neighbourhood is not only going to be ideal for hosting people with mobility issues, it has also helped introduce a new word to the city's vocabulary - visitability. It has also upped the bar for new-home prices.
Nearly 600 lots in Bridgwater Lakes, the second neighbourhood in the Waverley West development located near the University of Manitoba, will be designated "visitable" once they open, likely sometime in 2012 and 2013.
Being visitable entails doorways without stairs that are essentially at the same level as the street so people in wheelchairs, with walkers or parents pushing strollers will be able to enter the house with as little effort as possible.
The visitable houses, which will be both bungalows and two-storey homes, will have wider halls and doorways and a main-floor bathroom. Neighbourhood officials were quick to point out that they aren't intended to be permanent homes for the mobility-challenged.
The homes won't be cheap by Winnipeg standards. It's expected they'll retail for between $600,000 and $1 million each.
Kerri Irvin-Ross, Manitoba housing and community development minister, said the specially designed homes are filling an underserved market in Winnipeg.
"Until you have a situation where somebody with a mobility issue can't get in to visit you in your house, you won't understand the importance of visitable homes," she said, noting all of Waverley West is expected to take about 20 years to develop.
from Western Investor, November 2010
