Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST is a new initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) designed to promote compliance with the Fair Housing Act design and construction requirements. The program consists of a comprehensive training curriculum, as well as a toll-free information line and website designed to provide technical guidance to the public. BearingPoint, a company based in McLean, VA, administers the Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST program.

The program name, Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST, has dual significance. FIRST describes the services offered by the program: Fair Housing Information, Resources, Support, and Technical Guidance. It also conveys the importance of planning for compliance with the accessibility requirements first - before engineering, before design, before construction. Not only does federal law require compliance, it is easier and cheaper to plan and build in compliance with the law than it is to retrofit a structure after construction.

Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST Project History

With Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST, public and private owners, developers, architects, operators of housing, and others will learn how to engage in practices that do not discriminate against people with disabilities. In order to create this training and technical guidance program to meet the needs of the many diverse stakeholders, BearingPoint conducted an extensive Needs Analysis designed to ascertain the information needed to effectively tailor the program and encourage participation.

The Needs Analysis consisted of a web survey, stakeholder interviews and extensive research; it included feedback from over 850 respondents throughout the country. As a result of the analysis, recommendations for the design and implementation of Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST were approved by HUD.

Support and Technical Guidance

Adaptive Environments is a 26-year old-educational non-profit organization committed to advancing the role of design in expanding opportunity and enhancing experience for people of all ages and abilities. Adaptive Environments' work balances expertise in legally required accessibility with promotion of best practices in human centered or universal design. Projects vary from local to international. All are characterized by collaboration and user participation. Adaptive Environments is based in Boston, MA.

Visit the Accessibility FIRST website for detailed resources on the design and construction requirements of the fair housing act for new construction.