Overview of Accessible Housing in Blacksburg

Abstract

Off-campus housing in Blacksburg, Virginia, can be a difficult obstacle to face for all students, but is especially challenging for those with mobility limitations. About 14.3% of adults live with these kinds of limitations, yet only 0.15% of housing is considered accessible in the United States. With Blacksburg currently facing a housing shortage, a call to action is necessary to bring change to the extensive construction surrounding Virginia Tech’s main campus. As it stands, there are no openly available resources to identify accessible housing options. For housing to be considered fully accessible, it must include wider doorways and hallways, lower countertops and light switches, larger showers, ramps, elevators, etc. While some of these accessibility features are obvious just from looking at the complex, such as elevators and ramps, it can be hard to find details about the other features a housing complex might offer. Much of the housing in Blacksburg is leased or managed by CMG Leasing, but their websites do not include information on ADA compliance or the regulations for their facilities. Even the housing leased by other companies has little to no mention of the accessibility of their units. This has made it difficult for residents in need of these accommodations to be properly informed about their options, and may even affect their confidence in accepting admission to Virginia Tech. To resolve this, we propose that the information identified in this report be made available on the corresponding websites and informative brochures to present to the Blacksburg Town Council. We drafted a mock website and brochure to effectively outline our findings in a concise and meaningful way to assist in minimizing this gap and making housing options more available, despite mobility level.