OCAD partners with Toronto Community Housing

OCAD President Sara Diamond and Toronto Community Housing Acting CEO Keiko Nakamura, announcing the partnership. Photo: Lino Ragno.On January 19, OCAD and Toronto Community Housing, with Toronto Mayor David Miller, announced a new partnership aimed at promoting accessible, inclusive design in social housing buildings while enriching student experience in applied design research.

As Ontario’s public sector gears up for forthcoming legislation aimed at transforming the province into a fully accessible society through the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), OCAD and Toronto Community Housing have come together to research strategies for addressing accessibility in the social housing context.

This partnership is an important step towards improving access for Toronto Community Housing residents while engaging young designers with the principles of universal/inclusive design, a field with immeasurable growth opportunities.



275 Shuter Street in the Moss Park community of Toronto.

Universal design produces buildings and environments that are usable and effective for everyone. Elements of universal design are invisible to many people, but they‘re absolutely critical to those who need them. Related examples of inclusive design include lower cabinets with pull-out shelves; lever handles for opening doors, rather than twist knobs; wider doors and hallways; buttons on control panels that can be distinguished by touch; and anti-glare flooring that resists scuffing.

Toronto Community Housing (www.torontohousing.ca) is Canada’s largest social housing provider and home to more than 164,000 tenants with low and moderate incomes — about six per cent of the City of Toronto’s population.



Toronto Mayor David Miller at the announcement. Photo: Lino Ragno.OCAD students will use an existing Toronto Community Housing building (275 Shuter Street in the Moss Park community) as a case study to engage in applied research. They’ll work to capture data and information about how residents and users engage with the facility and use the facility to test a variety of inclusive design strategies.

Building on the support that will come from OCAD’s existing expertise in inclusive design, the partnership will call on a rich complement of academic and professional advisors and research consultants from Canada and the United States, inviting them to share their expertise on specific projects. Toronto Community Housing will also form an advisory group of tenants and staff and host sessions at the building to give tenants the opportunity to provide input.



Mayor Miller, Toronto Community Housing tenant Tracy Izzard and Toronto Community Housing Health Promotion Officer Penny Lamy, who spoke at the announcement. Photo: Lino Ragno.“Our goal is to build a foundation of research that will be critical in meeting the requirements of the AODA legislation, and will help lead new innovation to meet Ontario’s goal to become a fully accessible society,” said OCAD President Sara Diamond.

Calling Toronto “Canada’s largest landlord,” Mayor Miller was clearly enthused about the partnership and its implications for Toronto’s social housing portfolio — one in which the majority of buildings were constructed in 1950 or earlier.

“The City of Toronto is committed to making the physical environment of our city accessible for all Torontonians, including the tenants living in social housing,” Miller said. “This partnership is a great example of how public sector institutions can partner with leading thinkers and institutions to develop creative solutions around important issues like accessibility. I applaud OCAD and Toronto Community Housing for creating this innovative partnership that will serve as a model for future design initiatives in Toronto.”



Left to right: tenant Lynn McCormick, Mayor Miller, Toronto Community Housing Board Chair David Mitchell, Tracy Izzard, Penny Lamy, tenant Kathryn Wallace, Keiko Nakamura and President Diamond. Photo: Lino Ragno.