Increasing Housing Options for Disabled

The brick townhouses planned for a wooded patch of central Fairfax County will be much like the dozens of homes that pop up every day in the bustling Washington region: a single-car garage in the back, a modest lawn in the front and three stories of seemingly typical suburban living.

For a select group of people, however, the eight planned homes in Burke represent an unusual opportunity. They are, officials say, the county's first experiment with townhouses designed specifically for those with disabilities.

The homes in the project, which bears the generic suburban moniker Oak Leather Townhomes, will boast garages that are extra long and wide to accommodate larger vans with lifts.

Each will have a spacious elevator to shuttle residents from ground level to parlor and bedroom floors. The counters and cupboards will slide to adjust to different heights: lower for someone in a wheelchair, higher for a standing person.

Such amenities are known as "universal design" standards, geared toward allowing those with and without disabilities to live side by side seamlessly. And with more than 2,500 disabled people on waiting lists for housing in Fairfax County, there's little question that the homes address a growing need.

"It's a real unique concept here in Fairfax and in the region," said the Rev. Ron F. Christian, executive director of Lutheran Housing Services, which is helping to market the homes to the disabled community. "It gives those with disabilities more options to live in the community."

As the population ages and seniors -- with and without disabilities -- look for more living options, such projects may provide a different and welcome model, particularly in the dense inner suburbs, where land is at a premium.

"It's very, very difficult to find any kind of accessible dwelling in Fairfax County," said Pamela Barrett, a member of the county's Disability Services Board. "These kinds of projects are going to be the wave of the future. As baby boomers age, they are going to be very demanding. Eventually everybody is going to need this kind of accessible housing. We hope this project is just the beginning."

Indeed, people with disabilities in the region generally have limited options for housing: retrofitting existing ramblers or other one-story, single-family homes; flocking to assisted living facilities; or renting apartments in high-rises that are equipped with the needed space and amenities.

"This really takes opportunities for the disabled . . . a step further," said Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Sharon S. Bulova (D-Braddock), whose district includes the Burke area.

Planners hope to begin construction on Oak Leather, which will sit on a one-acre lot, in the fall, and have the first several homes ready in the spring. Several local officials, including Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), county Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) and Bulova, attended a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday.

The eight homes aren't cheap. They'll be sold at a current market rate of about $650,000, said John Thillmann, vice president of Landmark Communities, the project's developer. He said four of the homes have sold at market rate already.

Christian said his organization is looking to find ways of subsidizing those who might not be able to afford the market rate.

And though anyone can buy the 2,400-square-foot homes, the project will be specially marketed to those with disabilities. Several members of the disabled community said such projects fill an important need in including the disabled in mainstream life.

"If you're in a wheelchair, it's never just a matter of going out in the housing market and just buying whatever strikes your fancy," said Bob Kelly, 53, a local lawyer, who contracted polio as a child and volunteered to consult on the project.

"More than half of what's out there are apartment buildings," Kelly said. "At some point, you want your own four walls and your own roof. And a front lawn."