Pathways to Homeownership Profile: Danny, MB, Joint Ownership
Danny started planning early and achieved his goal of owning a home at the age of 21. He is currently 10 years away from being mortgage-free.
Thinking of Homeownership
Danny identified his desire to become a homeowner and live independently in his own place at a young age. For Danny, having his own home where he was in control was the only suitable option; he expressed that he did not want to "live with a bunch of people."
Danny's parents felt that independent living could work given Danny's strong network of family and community supporters; however, there were fears that he would not make good connections with paid support staff and neighbours on his own. Danny also requires 24-hour disability-related supports. His parents worried about where the home would be and what his life would look like – would his routines be his choice, or his support staff's choice?
Pursuing Homeownership
To help in the cost of purchasing a home, Danny and his family partnered with an organization that helped set up a foundation in his name and organized events in the community. Many were happy to contribute to his home purchase – from gifting money to donating their time at fundraising events. As a result, in about five years the family raised $30,000, enough for a down payment on a house in their area.
Due to perceptions about developmental disabilities, Danny's family didn't know if he would be granted a mortgage or if he would be able to have his name on the mortgage and title. He did have his own account at the bank, and the employees there knew him, which gave them hope. The bank was supportive, agreeing to a mortgage in Danny's name with his parents as co-signers. The home was put into a joint ownership arrangement between Danny and his parents.
Life as a Homeowner
Being a homeowner fulfilled a long-time goal for Danny – it has enabled him to live an ordinary life entirely within his control, supported by caring staff who help him stay safe and happy. For his parents, Danny's homeownership has been everything they had hoped for and more.
Like any homeowner Danny has encountered issues, including initial problems with his support staff, but he clearly communicates what he likes and doesn't like, leading to quick resolutions. In his home Danny has control over what decisions get made. Unlike his previous living situations, Danny no longer has to share his space or eat what the family eats – he chooses his own meals with help from his staff.
By setting homeownership as the goal early on and rallying support from others to help achieve this goal, Danny has his own home where he has what he needs to live exactly the way he wants.
Read more about Danny’s story, as well as five others who navigated the journey of homeownership.
Pathways to Homeownership Profile: Sarah, ON, Bare Trust
Sarah was living at home with her parents and wanted her own space. This led Sarah and her family to start exploring different housing options. As an interim solution, with the two-year goal of getting her own place, Sarah decided to move in with her brother.
Moving out of her parents' home helped Sarah build confidence to be more independent. She did not like certain things about living with her brother – they occasionally had conflicts regarding the shared space, like most siblings – but she began to do more everyday activities on her own, like washing the dishes and doing laundry. The accessibility of the home also made it easier for Sarah to get around without assistance.
Exploring Homeownership
Sarah and her family had a limited understanding of what that might look like at the start of their journey. Options like group homes were explored, but they quickly realized that congregate living would not give Sarah the freedom she desired. Sarah and her family started gathering information about buying a condo so there would be less maintenance than a single-family house and more safety structures, like controlled building entry. It was also important for Sarah's home to be near public transportation and amenities that she could go to by herself or with a friend.
Attaining Homeownership
With her parents and a realtor, Sarah spent time looking for the right place. They found a ground-floor unit in a low-rise condominium complex with two bedrooms and a balcony. The home met most of Sarah’s accessibility needs, and there was a bus stop nearby and a grocery store and coffee shop that Sarah could get to by herself.
Life as a Homeowner
Sarah moved into her own home in 2020. Initially she felt a little nervous, but her confidence has increased with the help of open communication with her friends and support network.
In Sarah's home, with her permission, there are always people coming and going - from support workers who assist her in the evenings to friends and family coming for a visit. Sarah's family has been pleased with the transition and how well she manages her home, and how she is flourishing in her own space. Homeownership has had a positive impact on Sarah's life as well as her family dynamic. Sarah is happy and comfortable in her own space.
Read more about Sarah’s story, as well as five others who navigated the journey of homeownership.
Pathway to Homeownership Profile: John, NB, Sole Ownership
John is a homeowner of over 30 years. John also has an intellectual disability. With the help of his family and his savings, John was able to purchase a home.
From a young age John's parents encouraged him to secure paid work, from delivering newspapers to helping paint the local community centre to working full-time in manufacturing and retail. John's work provided him with consistent income, and, coupled with living at home, he was able to accumulate a substantial amount of personal savings.
Exploring homeownership
In 1989, John was 20 years old and living with his parents in the townhouse complex where he grew up. John had never received any disability-related funding from the government, and his parents were longtime advocates of living an inclusive life in community, despite institutional and social barriers. John's parents were thinking about his future security, and John wanted to have his own space that he could control.
Purchasing a Home
Covering half the cost of the home with his lifetime savings, John purchased a townhouse in his community. That way, he could remain close to his parents and live in a familiar environment where people already knew him. With the help of a lawyer who explained everything clearly so John could understand, John signed the deed and mortgage papers in his name to have complete control of his home.
At first, John moved into his house with roommates who also had disabilities. The shared living situation did not work out. John's mother had an idea to approach the accommodations staff at a local university campus. The university added John's home to the list of approved housing for international students coming to Canada to study.
Over the next few years, John had an interesting mix of student roommates live in his home from all over the world. Through the rental income, John was able to own his home mortgage-free before he was 30 years old.
Read more about John’s story as well as five others who navigated the journey of homeownership in our Pathways to Homeownership: Case Study Report.
The RDSP Homeownership Plan: Improving Access to Homeownership for Canadians with Disabilities
In 2019 My Home My Community began exploring ways to make Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSPs) more useful for people with a disability and their families when it comes to housing security. With input from people with lived experience, community organizations, and experts in disability, law, finance, and housing we began exploring needs, challenges and developing solutions to allow more people with an intellectual disability to achieve homeownership and housing stability.
People with an intellectual disability can and do own their own homes. Many more want to - but lack the same tools to attain homeownership that Canadian policy provides to people without disabilities. The current design of the RDSP makes it nearly impossible to use these savings towards homeownership. To fill this gap, My Home My Community has created a homeownership tool designed specifically for people with disabilities to access homeownership using an existing savings program.
What the RDSP Homeownership Plan could mean for people with a disability
Changes to the RDSP could make homeownership much more accessible for people with an intellectual disability in Canada. Financial modelling to test the impact of the proposed plan shows that these changes would substantially improve the housing options available, even for people with moderate incomes. In several testing scenarios our proposed design allowed people to save more money more quickly in their RDSP than with the current rules. People who opened RDSP accounts from a young age had the most significant growth in the money saved in their RDSP. Being able to withdraw the full amount of money in their RDSP to purchase a home turned out to be the suggested change with the biggest impact. This flexibility opened up housing options not possible under the current RDSP program.
Final Thoughts
We don’t know whether the federal government will adopt our recommendations for an RDSP Homeownership Plan but there are some important reasons why we believe they should:
Canada’s National Housing Strategy has committed to making investments in housing for people with a disability a priority.
The National Housing Strategy is clear that housing policy should be based on inclusion, participation, and non-discrimination.
The changes suggested in the RDSP Homeownership Plan support these principles and help address the inequality that people with a disability face in saving to buy a home.
Three Pathways to Inclusive Housing: Canadian examples and how to recreate them
We’ve profiled innovative approaches to inclusive, affordable housing models that not only provide support, but also advance social inclusion for people with an intellectual disability. Our demonstration project is about profiling what works, so it can be replicated. Although there are infinite pathways to inclusive and affordable housing for people with an intellectual disability (and none of them are perfect!), we’re sharing with you examples from Brockville, South Surrey, and Toronto, where inclusive affordable housing has been created and remains successful.
Asset Inventory: Using existing resources to create inclusive housing for people with disabilities
Through My Home My Community we’ve looked at ways to support the federal government as they create the 2,400 new housing units for people with developmental disabilities promised in the National Housing Strategy. By studying what exists in different communities across the country, we hoped to come up with some creative solutions that can also help the more than 24,000 people with an intellectual disability in Canada who are in core housing need. We know that there is untapped potential for better housing options for people with an intellectual disability, and we believe we can use existing assets to help meet some, or all, this need.
To do this, we looked at six Canadian communities representing both rural and urban areas: Toronto, Vancouver, Fredericton, Lloydminster, Saskatoon and Montreal. Using online questionnaires and interviews we collected information from self-advocates, family members, service providers, government departments, housing developers and housing providers. We also looked at data from Statistics Canada. Not surprisingly, we learned that most people with an intellectual disability live at home with their parents, and that the main reasons for searching for a new housing solution were aging parents/caregivers and the individual’s desire to move out of their parental home. While some member families considered group homes one of their preferred housing solutions, none of the self-advocates who responded to the survey indicated that they preferred to live in a group home.
We did the research. Interested in the full report? Learn more about the My Home, My Community Asset Inventory and what it means for people with an intellectual disability and their families.
Canada Housing Benefit: Creating equity in housing for people with disabilities
Canada’s National Housing Strategy, A Place to Call Home, includes a $4 billion commitment to a Canada Housing Benefit. This benefit was created to help make housing more affordable - including providing financial assistance to help with the cost of rent. Each province and territory is involved in designing the Canada Housing Benefit in their region, so it looks different depending on where you live.
My Home My Community recognizes the potential that the Canada Housing Benefit could have for people with an intellectual disability. Over 400,000 adults with disabilities in Canada were living in households in core housing need. Many people with an intellectual disability still have to choose between quality housing with supports and inclusion in the community. If the Canada Housing Benefit is going to create equity in housing for people with disabilities, it needs to be designed with their unique needs in mind.
Canadians with disabilities have “hidden” costs related to their housing that are not experienced by people without disabilities. Physical accessibility requirements, a need to be close to services and supports, or an additional bedroom for overnight support staff can make finding a suitable place to rent more difficult and more expensive.
We’ve researched creative ways that the Canada Housing Benefit could address these challenges by including a disability supplement in its design. Our report, Making the Canada Housing Benefit work for people with disabilities, explores the wide range of potential designs for a disability supplement. We’ve looked at how a supplement could help fill the gap between what individuals can afford and the actual cost to rent an appropriate home in different markets. We’ve analyzed the pros and cons of these different designs, studied real-life examples, and identified important considerations. Now we’re using this information to urge decision-makers to create a Canada Housing Benefit that will create real equity for people with disabilities.
Understanding inclusion in housing
In November 2017 the Canadian government released the National Housing Strategy (NHS). The Strategy is focused on improving access to safe, affordable housing. It commits $40 billion over ten years to reach specific goals. One of its goals is to create 2,400 new affordable housing units for people with a developmental disability. It also recognizes housing as “a cornerstone of inclusive communities.”
From a long history of institutionalization, to residential living that still limits individual freedom and choice, Canada has a long way to go before people with a developmental disability have the same options in housing as everyone else.
Many families know from personal experience the difference that housing can make in their life. The right housing can open doors to a life that is full of meaning, connection, and contribution. Plus, research has shown that community inclusion is important for well-being and good health. With this in mind, My Home My Community looked at the aspects of housing that contribute to inclusion.
Inclusion is key to better housing solutions
For decades, people with developmental disabilities have had their choices in life limited - the most well-known example being choice over where they live. Before the 1980s, institutions were the most common living arrangement for people with disabilities in Canada. Parents were strongly encouraged by medical professionals to ‘place’ their loved-one in an institution and continue on with their lives. Tucked aside and away from the public, people with disabilities experienced horrible neglect, abuse and violation of their rights while in institutions. Many are still living with the harm caused.
When most large institutions closed in Canada, due to advocacy efforts by people with disabilities and their families, people were moved into ‘group homes’ or other settings where smaller groups of people with disabilities are placed together. These kinds of living arrangements are still very common today, and are often seen as the only alternative option to large institutions. Although created with good intentions, in many ways these congregate arrangements still limit the choices of people with disabilities - by controlling where and with whom they live, as well as their daily routine (what and when to eat, what time to get up and go to bed, when to bathe, what activities to do, who can visit and when, etc.)
People with disabilities and their families knew that something better was possible and have worked hard to make “something better” a reality. Instead of group-based living arrangements, families began exploring individual housing options, spread out in everyday neighbourhoods. These inclusive options not only offer people with a developmental disability the choice and dignity they deserve, but make the community a better place for everyone to live.