FlexHousing

So, I have decided to pursue a different term. This term is "FlexHousing" and was mentioned to me in a comment on my last post (Thanks Dale!).

FlexHousing is a concept developed by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation that illustrates the need to design homes in ways that allow it to adapt to the occupants changing needs over a long period of time. As Dale had suggested in his post, it is probably the closest Canadian equivalent to the Fair Housing Act in the United States.

The dynamics of a family change over time. Usually, this would be accommodated for by simply moving to a new house. For example: A child is born, move to a big house; when the children leave home, move to a smaller house.

But what if you had a house that adapted to these life changes? Maybe an office could be made into two bedrooms and maybe the basement could be made into a separate dwelling unit that can be rented out.

This is very interesting to me. I think, in my paper, that I am going to argue the need for more FlexHousing in Canada, especially since the proportion of seniors in the entire population is in the process of changing.

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Research Notes

CMHC on FlexHousing
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/buho/flho/

FlexHousing: Building Adaptable Housing
https://www03.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/b2c/b2c/init.do?language=en&shop=Z01EN&areaID=0000000035&productID=00000000350000000142

Possible Sources
http://enablelink.ca/include/article.php?aid=1107&cid=&pid=&subid=

Canadia Centre of Housing Technology
http://www.ccht-cctr.gc.ca/main_e.html

"FlexHouse Guided Tour"
http://www.ccht-cctr.gc.ca/docs/flexhouse_e.pdf

News
http://www.ccht-cctr.gc.ca/news/newsletter1_e.pdf



"Can adapting the homes of older people and providing assistive technology pay its way? [Article]"
http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/33/6/571

"The Adaptable House: Designing Homes for Change [Book]"
http://books.google.ca/books?id=B-qVb__HjxUC&dq=The+Adaptable+House:+Designing+
Homes+for+Change&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=p3GI9rqrVz&sig=duw7ESiUx9-cyTPelzkCn2bGpMo&hl=en&ei=ZAWqSc3NAoimtgO9x5VJ&sa=X&oi=
book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA20,M1

"THE BENEFITS OF BUILDING BARRIERFREE: A CONTINGENT VALUATION OF ACCESSIBILITY AS AN ATTRIBUTE OF HOUSING [Article]"
http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.tru.ca/ehost/pdf?vid=4&hid=102&sid=e3922354-078c-40bc-aaa3-f6d04c47e85f%40sessionmgr104

"DESIGN FOR EVERYONE [Article, List of References]"
http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.tru.ca/ehost/detail?vid=6&hid=102&sid=e3922354-078c-40bc-aaa3-f6d04c47e85f%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=34614697