House frame going upThe Knoxville City Council will meet Tuesday, December 19th at 7pm in the City County Building on Main Street. On the agenda will be a discussion about a resolution seeking to improve accessibility of housing in Knox County. It’s hoped that concepts of Visitability might eventually find their way into the Knoxville housing code.

Visitability represents a smart, cost-effective means of improving accessibility in homes. In fact, it costs less than $500 on average to make a new home Visitable. Knoxville resident Laura Johnson will be speaking before the Council tonight and she is in the process of building an accessible home (see photos at the right).

House exterior taking shapeThis is not necessarily 100% accessible housing. A Visitable house is one with a no step entrance, wide doors (32 inches) for maneuvering through the home, and an accessible half-bathroom with reinforced walls although a full bath is preferred. As the number of Visitable homes increase it will make it easier for people to visit their neighbors, attend a friend’s holiday party, go to a political meeting in someone’s house, and just be part of the community.

Please come if you can because if we have success in Knoxville then it improves the chances of accessibility spreading to other communities.

For more about Visitability visit www.concretechange.org

Council Agenda - Only available in PDF

For a list of council members

To see an Accessible Gingerbread House