'If there's a fire I'm dead':
Quadruple amputee battles condo board for access to her own building
Verna Marzo can't open the doors to her Calgary condo building without help from her care worker, sister, or willing neighbours. The condo board has plans for new doors, but not for a push-button system. (Justin Pennell/CBC)
Ms. Marzo can’t open the front door to her condo’s lobby. She asked the condo to install a push-button access door. The condo board says no.
The article states:
”Verna Marzo says she'll never forget the embarrassment of being stuck outside her Calgary condo building — in the cold for almost two hours, waiting for someone to let her in — because as a quadruple amputee she can't open the doors on her own and her condo board has refused to install automatic doors she can use.
"Someone helped me [get] out, but when I wanted to go back in, there was no one to open the door," said Marzo, 46.”
Comments
Some readers supported the owner but surprisingly, many did not:
“After reading this article several times, it appears the problem here is Verna moved into the condo knowing the common areas will be an obstacle and is now demanding the condo owners cover the cost of renovation. Personally, I wish every condo apartment is accessible but they aren’t, especially when it comes low-rise buildings constructed 40 or 50 years ago. It would be nice if the board changed the door however as the CBC article states, the condo association has no obligation to do so. In hindsight Verna should have bought a condo that better suited her requirements.”
“If she would setup go fund me page , she would likely get close to the amount that is needed.”
“Bullying a condo association into providing concessions isn't the answer folks!”
http://bit.ly/2ph8ARt
Comments from my readers
Should condo corporations have “we will discriminate against _______” within their status certificates?
—Beverley
Well, they can't do that now can they? This is Canada so discrimination has be discreet.
However are condo residents rights being ignored? Sure, it happens. Sometimes deliberately and sometimes unintentionally.
It can be because of disabilities, religion, race, mental health issues (a big one), the need for a support dog, or something else.
I seen a condo that refused to allow the Party Room to be used on a certain religion's holy days. It took a two-year fight to get that reversed.
What doesn't help is that all the provinces have different human right codes.
—my reply
That’s a good point – I suppose that’s what the federal changes needed to do. Where, I wonder, does the obligation to ‘prevent’ this sort of conduct – sit in the contemplation of all this – particularly under LSO’s rules of conduct, 6.3.1?
—Beverley
This CBC News story out of Alberta leaves out so much information.
How old is the condo corporation, how many units, what is the financial condition of the corporation and the owners. She she make an application to the Human Rights board?
In a few rulings that I read on Human Rights complaints, and I think I picked up on it in the Reader's Comments, there is a sense by some that the woman picked an inexpensive condo because that is what she can afford and now she is expecting her neighbours to subsidize her "special needs".
Did you read many of the Comments that are below the article? The harshness in the negative ones surprised me.
—my reply
Sadly, I’m not surprised at these comments. Condo (and HOA) living breeds the attitude that, if you don’t fit in with the ruling class, you’re expected to suck it up and MOVE if necessary.
Theoretically, Verna could have moved to a newer building, or one that has been modernized to include an automatic door. But how much more would she have to pay to live there? (Whether owning or renting) Could she afford the extra housing costs? Would the location work in terms of proximity to accessible sidewalks and transit? Would the building of her choice have a vacant unit with the accessibility features she needs? If not, how difficult and costly would it be to retrofit the unit to meet her needs?
Here in the U.S., despite a fairly robust set of Fair Housing and ADA laws, we see the same ignorant behavior from owners in a planned community with an HOA. It seems that, whenever a disabled owner wants to install a wheelchair ramp, there’s always one or a few neighbors that insist that the owner hide the ramp in the back yard or in the garage. The Architectural Review Board might allow the ramp in the front of the house, but only if it’s built from certain more attractive materials (more expensive) and screened by landscape plants. Oh, and the owner is expected to remove the ramp when they move out (unless the new owner also needs the ramp).
In the single family home or condo unit, the owner pays for all of this, not the HOA. So there’s really no excuse for an HOA board to make life difficult for someone with a disability. It happens often, though, and most of HUD’s complaints involve failure of a housing provider to allow a reasonable accommodation for someone with a disability.
Fair Housing laws in the US require that, in the common use areas, for any building constructed after 1991, a condo association must provide accessibility.
However, older multifamily buildings and townhouses are exempt from these requirements — unless the community is expanded with new units that must use the same common areas to access the new units, which must be made accessible.
See experts from ADA reference below.
Observations: if you’re rich and handicapped, you’ll have many more housing options. If affordability is important, you’ll be limited to a low-rise older building with a ground floor unit and no elevators — or possibly a townhouse all on one level (very rare).
If your town doesn’t have any post 1991 buildings, you’re out of luck.
https://www.ada.gov/doj_hud_statement.pdf
—Deborah
“Condo (and HOA) living breeds the attitude that, if you don’t fit in with the ruling class, you’re expected to suck it up and MOVE if necessary.”
Oh this is so true. Not just about needing accommodation for disabilities but about almost everything in condo communities. Life is better if you fit in; more difficult if you don’t.
This article hit a nerve as it has been opened over 600 times in just seven hours. That is a record for “CondoLiving essays”. I thought that the article would not attract much interest.
Accommodation issues in condos must be a much bigger issue than I thought.
In Ontario, it does not matter how old a condo is; it must accommodate unless it causes undue financial hardship.
—my reply