12 BRAND STORY BY NATALIA HURT On its quest to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) lead self-determined lives, Portland-based Albertina Kerr built Wynne Watts Commons—an awardwinning affordable housing complex that offers a new blueprint for inclusive living. Unlike standard affordable housing options, Wynne Watts Commons seamlessly integrates accessibility and sustainability to create a community for individuals with and without disabilities. The concept merges universal design, empowering technology and solar energy, eclipsing the status quo and earning it a Portland Business Journal Landmark Award and the Urban Land Institute’s Terwilliger Center Award for Innovation in Attainable Housing. “We know that people with disabilities need access to affordable, subsidized housing,” explains Allison Stark, CEO, Albertina Kerr. “They have the lowest incomes and are two or three times more likely to be unemployed. But they also want to live in integrative, inclusive communities. Wynne Watts Commons puts those things together and adds accessibility through universal design.” Its universal design approach means that the housing complex strives to be useable by as many people as possible, manifesting as color-coded levels, extra-large apartment numbers, low mailboxes, fob accessibility, automated entry doors and elevator kick pedals. Thirty subsidized, ADA-compliant apartments spread throughout the 150-unit building further prioritize accessibility with pull-out cooktops, multilevel front-door peepholes, motorized kitchen cabinets and sound-proof bedrooms for those with sensory issues. “We’ve put people with disabilities at the center of the design, but it’s better for everyone,” Stark continues. “When it comes to aging, for example, larger numbers are helpful, and being able to push elevator buttons with your foot helps someone with a disability but also helps a mom carrying her kids.” Albertina Kerr has served the I/DD community for over 115 years, resulting in a deep understanding of its needs. Through its work—including 24-hour residential care for youth and adults with I/DD, supported employment services for adults with I/ DD, and in-patient crisis psychiatric care for youth—the human services nonprofit recognized a gap that led to Wynne Watts Commons: Low-income individuals with I/ DD capable of living independently with the right support face meager options—homelessness, staying with family indefinitely or confinement within institutions. According to Stark, unnecessary institutionalization limits freedom and wastes financial resources on disproportionate care: “The ideal system is one in which everyone gets what they need, not too little or too much.” New technology plays a pivotal role in enabling independent living for residents of Portland-based nonprofit Albertina Kerr offers a new blueprint for affordable, inclusive housing. Affordable, Accessible, Sustainable: Inside the Award-Winning Wynne Watts Commons Allison Stark Pull-out cooktop PRODUCED BY THE OREGON BUSINESS MARKETING DEPARTMENT
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