HOUSING AND PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS: ENSURING ACCESS FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

A KEY NOTE SPEECH BY TIROP KOSGEY, CBS PERMANENT SECRETARY MINISTRY OF HOUSING

AT THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DISABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY RIGTHTS: TOWARDS IMPLEMENTING THE PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES ACT 2003

AT KENYATTA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTRE 26 TH JUNE, 2012

Introduction To find the right house or apartment several things among them price range, location, aesthetics, overall floor space and the number of bedrooms are considered

People with disabilities face the same considerations, but as important as they are, they are overshadowed by the need for housing to be accessible: housing that enables people with disabilities to live their lives as independently as possible. A dwelling must be fully accessible to become a home for people with disabilities.

The Constitution of Kenya under part 2 Rights and fundamental freedoms article 27 provides that every person is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and equal benefit of the law.

The State shall not discriminate directly or indirectly against any person on any ground, including race, sex, pregnancy, marital status, health status, ethnic or social origin, colour, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, dress, language or birth.

The state is empowered under this article to take legislative and other measures, including affirmative action programmes and policies designed to redress any disadvantage suffered by individuals or groups because of past discrimination in order to give full effect to the realization of these rights.

The Persons with Disabilities Act 2003 Section 21 provides that persons with disabilities are entitled to a barrier –free and disability friendly environment to enable them to have access to buildings, roads and other social amenities, and assistive devices and other equipment to promote their mobility.

Section 22(1) goes further to provide that a proprietor of a public building shall adapt it to suit persons with disabilities in such a manner as may be specified by the council.

It is therefore against this background that the Ministry of Housing being responsible for matters related to housing has formulated policies and legislations to ensure the achievement of the guaranteed bill of rights.

These include the built environment Bill, 2011, the Building Surveyors Bill 2012, the Housing Bill, the National Building Regulations and the National Building Maintenance Policy. These legislations requires that there should be reasonable provisions for access to and use of buildings by the persons with disabilities.

Housing Policy Among the objectives of the National Housing policy is to offset the negative effects and impacts to vulnerable groups in the society which include the poor, women, children in difficult circumstances, the handicapped, the elderly and displaced persons

The Policy advocates that public buildings and facilities, public housing and transport systems put in place measures that ensure access by elderly and persons with disability.

The Legislations The draft National Building Regulations which is a review of the current Building Code of 1948 Part B deals with access and facilities for the persons with disability and provides for the following:

Buildings to Be Designed For Use by Persons with Disability The regulations require that all public buildings and spaces should be designed to accommodate needs of persons with disability.

Initial Access for Persons with Disability Convenient access to the entrance and car park should be provided. At least one car parking space or one percentage of car parking spaces, whichever is higher, should be provided and be accessible from the said entrance and lift.

Parking Facilities The regulations require that all public buildings should have designated parking spaces for the wheel chair users. The route to the facility or parking spaces should be free of any obstruction that may impede or endanger the travel.

The reserved parking and route should be located as close as possible to an accessible entrance of the building and has to be clearly marked. The reserved spaces should be denoted by painting the internationally recognized symbol on the ground using durable yellow paint and by signposting at the entrance of the car parking.

Ramps for Persons with Disability The regulations also requires that ramps should be provided at all changes in levels of building spaces vertically or horizontally. Gentle ramps should be provided at all changes in levels not served by a lift or at kerbs.

The regulations further require that dropped kerbs should be provided at pedestrian crossing and at each end of the footpath of a private street or access road.

Lifts for Persons with Disability The regulations requires that all floors of a building should be provided with at least one lift matching the specifications for persons with disability for their use. Lifts should be provided with access to all floors to enable access throughout the building.

The passenger lift should have clear landing, doors should have clear opening width, the lift installation must be provided with tactile call buttons both in Braille and raised numbers or letters on each storey served and within the lift, tactile storey selector buttons and in a lift serving more than two storeys visual and voice indicators on the storey reached.

A flashing red light should be installed inside the lift to warn deaf persons of a fire within the building whereas touch sensitive, illuminated and audible lift controls, with embossed digits should be used both inside and outside the lift. Embossed numerals should also be used to identify the floor number level

Corridors and Lobbies for Persons with Disability All corridors and lobbies should have space for manoeuvring wheel chairs.

Doors for Persons with Disability The regulations provide that the door specifications for use by persons with disability should be complied with.

Water Closet Cubicles for Persons with Disability The regulations provide that there should be adequate number of water closets (WCs) for use by persons with disability in each floor depending on the total number of water closets provided on that level or the number of cubicles assigned to each sex.

Location of Water Closet Cubicles for Persons with Disability Water closet cubicles for persons with disability should be easily accessible in a building

Rooms for Persons with Disability A hotel with guest rooms should provide adequate number of rooms with full facilities for persons with disabilities.

Built Environment Bill The Built environment Bill 2012 provides for Control of Building Works and in particular grounds for refusal to approve building plans. The non inclusion of the requirements of the persons with disabilities in the building plans forms one of the grounds not to approve the building plans.

The appointment of authorized persons as provided for in the bill is aimed at ensuring proper supervision of the building development works to ensure that the construction is done as per the approved building plans.

Building developers are required to have all the building development stages inspected and certified before proceeding to the next stage.

The bill and the regulations also recommend that after the building is completed, a certificate of occupation is issued. Where, the completed building differs with what is in the approved building plans, the certificate of occupation will be denied.

Gaps and challenges in implementation of provisions of the Persons with Disability Act, 2003 Although the ministry has formulated legislations as empowered by the constitution of Kenya under the bill of rights and article 43, the approval of the Bill and finalization of the drafting of the regulations has been very slow. This has hampered the implementation of the provisions of the regulations particularly on areas addressing issues of persons with disabilities.

Strategies for implementing the Persons with Disability Act The Persons with Disability Act is in tandem with the Regulations and once they are approved will spearhead the implementation and enforcement of the Act.

The regulations are under Legislative drafting stage. Kindly send your contributions to

Ramps for use by persons with Disability

Toilets for use by persons with disability

Lifts for use by persons with Disability

Parking spaces for use by Persons with disability