Making a home livable for a lifetime is not just a catchy phrase for Rosemarie Rosetti and her husband Mark Leder.
Their passion for universal design was borne out of tragedy and necessity more than two decades ago.
The custom home they built – not finding anything suitable on the Columbus market at the time--has served as a living laboratory, drawing thousands of people and attention from around the world, and providing a road map for designing homes that adapt as owners age, face physical limitations, cognitive decline or other disabilities.
But is the market keeping pace with the need for accessible housing?
Guests:
- Rosemarie Rossetti, CEO/owner, Rossetti Enterprises LLC
- Gretchen Roginson, realtor, Coldwater Banker Realty
- Trey Addison, interim executive director, Center for Real Estate, Ohio State University
Transcript
This transcript is generated with AI. To ensure its accuracy, review the audio file.
Amy Juravich: Welcome to All Sides with Amy Juravich. Making a home livable for a lifetime is not just a catchy phrase for Rosemarie Rossetti and her husband, Mark Leder. Their passion for what is known as universal design was born out of a tragedy and necessity more than two decades ago. The custom home that they built, not finding anything suitable on the market in Columbus at the time. Has served as a living laboratory, drawing thousands of people and attention from around the world. And joining us now is Rosemarie Rossetti, a leading expert in disability inclusion, universal design and accessibility. She and her husband, Mark, led the design team and were the general contractors of their home, known as the Universal Design Living Laboratory. She's also the CEO and founder of Rossetti Enterprises LLC. Welcome to all sides, Rosemarie. Well, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. So I thought if you don't mind, um, we can start at the beginning of your journey to becoming a universal design expert. Um, take us back to, you know, what changed in your life in 1998, the events of that day that basically changed your life forever.
Rosemarie Rossetti: Yeah, it was a beautiful Saturday. It was June 13th of 98. My husband and I were celebrating our third wedding anniversary and decided to go on a bicycle ride over in Granville, Ohio. While we were riding, Mark heard what he thought was a gunshot. He warned me. He said, look over there, something's falling. And what he had seen was a tall tree. And instantly, that tree, 7,000 pounds, fell on top of me. Followed by live power lines. I was instantly paralyzed from the waist down. So that is the beginning of the story in terms of now I am in a wheelchair speaking to you and life was difficult coming home in a wheel chair for the first time.
Juravich: Wow. So, I mean, basically like a freak accident, the tree, did the tree just fall over? Is that what happened?
Rossetti: Yes, it was.
Juravich: It was in full leaf but had been diseased and it just fell. So you're thrust into a world where you suddenly had to think about accessibility as it relates to daily living, maneuvering around a home, accessing public spaces. But tell me what it was like to now have to see the world from this new lens. It was a rude awakening coming ho-
Rossetti: Of course, we didn't have a no-step entrance in the home we were living in, and so my husband had to lift me in on the steps to the front door. Later, the neighbors and friends built a temporary wooden ramp at that front door, but it was like the luge in the Winter Olympics. It was not independent, and everything about the house was very difficult. I was so weak when I came home, I couldn't even roll on the carpet in the wheelchair. The restroom, the bathroom doors had to come off, so I had no more privacy. Forget about going into the bathtub and take the doors off the shower. I mean, it was very difficult living in that home after that accident.
Juravich: So basically, you decided to fix it. You decided to get into contracting because you didn't find a suitable home in Columbus for what you were looking for. So that's how you ended up starting this business, Tell me, to just start, tell me the difference between accessible design and what you call universal design.
Rossetti: Think of it as accessible design, looking at the Americans with Disabilities Act as the floor, and look at universal design as the ceiling. We use the accessible features of the Americans With Disabilities act as our baseline, and then we go beyond that. So for example, if the Americans with Disability Act talk about a ramp that's a one in 12 slope, in our front entrance, it's a 1 in 20 slope. Which makes it less steep than a one in 12. There's a lot of features of accessibility throughout the home that are governed by the Americans with Disabilities Act, like lever handles on the door instead of around doorknobs. And so we use the accessibility components, but we go way beyond that. Okay.
Juravich: Now, I mentioned in the introduction that you didn't find anything on the market in Columbus. That's what you were looking for. So, tell me about that moment where were you looking at houses to move into something that was more accessible? When did you figure out you had to build it yourself?
Rossetti: We were living in our existing home for 15 years. That was a long period of time. And then we moved into an apartment for about 19 months. But we knew that the injury was going to be permanent. It was not a temporary situation. And so we came to the discussion, probably in 2003, we had that serious talk between us saying. This house can't be modified, it's gonna be too expensive. We'll start looking for something. We had a realtor working with us and taking us to what he thought was going to work, but they weren't. Then we started going to the model homes of the new build and we were really surprised that we couldn't find any ranch style homes. They were very rare. We didn't want a two story, we didn't need an elevator. We wanted everything on the first floor. And so it was a very difficult process of going from one home to another and even going to the show homes. I mean, the showhomes were not accessible. So it's like, Mark, go into this home and see if you'd like.
Juravich: I like it, I can't get in it. Oh man. Well, okay, so since this is radio, we're gonna have to help listeners visualize what you and your husband came up with because you made it yourself. So it is a ranch style home. It's 3,500 square feet. Can you describe some of the distinguishing features that make it universal design?
Rossetti: Well, going into the home, as I mentioned, it's a one-in-twenty slope, so it's very easy to get into the home. All the doors in the home are 36 inches wide, giving great space. All the door handles are lever handles. So as you come into the home, it is all hardwood floors. The bathrooms are tile. We have no carpeting except for the area rugs at the entrance so that people can their wheelchair wheels or people can wipe their feet. I'd like to take you in the kitchen though. That's where it really shines. Coming into our kitchen, there's a center island with three different heights. So the lowest area for me to work is 30 inches high. My husband Mark is six foot four. So he wants a taller one. And so we have a 40 inch high countertop in that center island for him. And the third section is a 35 inch countertop. So that's Center Island is the, I guess the workhorse of the kitchen. We have the microwave oven in that center island and we have the regular oven in the island also. Yeah, we'll have a link at our- The rest of the kitchens, there's a lot of other features. The kitchen's full of universal design.
Juravich: Yeah, we'll have a link at our website, wosu.org slash all sides, where you can take a virtual tour of your home so you can see what we're talking about. But basically the thing I also wanted to point out about the kitchen is you have these three counters at three different heights, but it looks like it was designed. It was meant to be like that, not like it forced upon a kitchen that looked like something else. So it really fits with the whole vibe of the home. So tell me tell me about that about making it you know, not look like, or even in the bathroom, to make it not look like it's like a hospital bathroom or something. Talk about that.
Rossetti: Yeah, well, I've got to give credit to the design team. We had a wonderful design team, Mary Jo Peterson was our universal design kitchen and bath designer. Anna Lyon was our overall interior designer, our architect, Patrick Manley. I mean, we had so many different companies that also contributed their design team as they were contributing the cabinets from craft And as they were continuing to... Sponsor us, the Kohler Company giving us their interior design team. So it was a huge team all around the country that Mark and I were the lead making sure that this home was what we wanted.
Juravich: It is our custom luxury home. This is All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. We're talking about Universal Design with expert Rosemary Rosetti and her husband, she and her Husband Mark. Their Columbus home is known as the Universal Design Living Laboratory. So let's talk about that. When it was finished, you opened the home up to the public for 30 days in 2012, and people could tour it, kind of like a museum tour, right? So tell me about who came to look at it and why.
Rossetti: There were 567 people in our house during that 30 days. What were we thinking? We had lots of volunteers that served as tour guides. We had MP3 players, thanks to Nationwide Insurance as our sponsor. They hired the professional voiceover. Mark and I wrote the script. We had 26 different stations. We could print the script if anyone I wanted to see the transcript. People could spend as much time as they wanted. We charged $10 a person, and it all went to spinal cord injury research, a fund that I started at Ohio State University. But for 30 days, this really was a monumental task for Mark and I to make sure the house was clean, to have the energy to welcome everyone as they came into the home and answer all their questions.
Juravich: So who were the people? Were they contractors? Were they people who had someone in their life in a wheelchair? Like who cared to learn from you?
Rossetti: It was open to the public, so we don't have a general idea of the people. It was opened to our neighbors, to people who drove by and saw the sign out front, open house today. Of course, we had builders there during construction, so, we made sure they were there. If they wanted to be, to be there, for example, the installation of the roof, we had a builder's day. The roof is recycled aluminum beverage cans. And so our contractor and contributor offered the builders information and let them watch them put that roof on.
Juravich: Interesting, okay. So your home received all kinds of accreditations and one of them is for the green building method. So is that an example of what's green, your roof?
Rossetti: Yes, that's one of them. We actually have two certifications for green with the US Green Building Council, the LEED certification, which is silver, and then the National Association of Home Builders, where a gold certification.
Juravich: What did you learn like all those years ago that has become important and timely nowadays? I mean, you know, if there's more and more Ohioans, Americans are aging, they're dealing with physical limitations, disabilities. What is it? What is your the big thing you learned from this home building process? And your message for today.
Rossetti: Well, we learned that it's a ageless design. It is something that is now, since 2012, when we moved in, people come in and still marvel at the design. So we've got to give credit to the design team that it has made it through all of these years in terms of it does not look outdated. And so as I've lived here and operated in the home, the independence that it is given me is amazing. The freedom, the safety, the peace of mind. I'm just so fortunate that we had the team that guided us. And of course, very fortunate for Mark, who was the general contractor. He was here all the time. He had never built a house before. And believe me, he will never build another one.
Juravich: Yeah, well did you have trouble finding builders who could do what you wanted? You know whenever you told them I want the door to be wider and I want the kitchen the countertops to be at three different levels. I'm guessing that most builders are like no no no we don't do that.
Rossetti: We were the builders, so we didn't have to worry about anyone else. Hiring subcontractors is a different story. For example, the electricians, they were going to be putting in the electrical outlets and the switches for the lights. Universal design changes where they are on the wall. We wanna put the electric outlets a little higher up from the floor so you don't have bend down as far. And we wanna put light switches just a little bit lower. So that they're more reachable. And the electrician was like, that's not how we usually do it. And so my husband took a piece of plywood and he cut the holes in it at the level that the electricians could use as a template. He said, this is where you're gonna put all the electric outlets and this is you're going to put all the light switches because of universal design, making it a lot more accessible.
Juravich: In addition to advocating for more accessible housing and teaching people about universal design, you consult with a lot of corporations and groups too. I noted that you were recently a keynote speaker for a global event through JPMorgan Chase. Can you tell me about that? What did JPM Morgan Chase want to learn from you?
Rossetti: Well, on May 20th, it was Global Accessibility Awareness Day. And so I was the pick for the keynote speaker there, talking about the importance of accessibility. I also talked about my home. And I talked about the banks. It was very personal, very customized, where I went to my branch bank and took pictures showcasing the accessibility features of the ATM machine, of the parking lot, of the entrance. To let them see how the design team at JP Morgan Chase had accessibility in mind when they built that branch.
Juravich: Um, and just before we take the break, I, I also, you were quoted in consumer reports article, um, about best refrigerator configurations, which is just a funny thing that made me smile, but like that, I mean, that's a real thing. You know, you, you have to, everyone has to be able to open the refrigerator. So tell me about that.
Rossetti: I prefer a refrigerator that has the two doors where one side is the refrigerator and the other side is freezer. So that was the first thing going in. And then I have very short arms, so I can't reach things on the shelves that are in the back of those shelves. And so when we went looking for the refrigerator, I found a wonderful one with KitchenAid where the shelves rolled out. So no longer did I have a problem. Of reaching things in the back of the refrigerator. So there are a lot of features in terms of the lighting, in terms the adjustability of the shelving. I just really liked it and checked the boxes to say this is our refrigerator. This is what we're bringing to our new home.
Juravich: Rosemary Rosetti is staying with us for the hour and coming up we're going to be joined by a central Ohio Realtor who is going to talk about making homes more accessible and how the market is responding. That is when all sides continues on 89.7 NPR news.
You're listening to All Sides. I'm your host, Amy Juravich. We're talking today about the concept of universal design and the importance of making a home livable for a lifetime. But what does that mean? And are there enough accessible houses on the market in Columbus? Are developers building what homeowners want, especially when baby boomers are hanging onto homes longer and want homes that they can easily maneuver in when physical and cognitive issues arise? Still with us is Rosemarie Rossetti, a leading expert in disability inclusion, universal design, and accessibility. She and her husband Mark led the design team and were the general contractors of their Columbus home, which is known as the Universal Design Living Laboratory. Thanks again for being here, Rosemary. Well, thank you for inviting me. Joining us now is Gretchen Roginson, a- Got it. All right. Gretchen Roginson. A realtor in central Ohio for 23 years and a design and accessibility consultant with Coldwell Banker Realty. Welcome to All Sides, Gretchen. Thanks for having me. So you and Rosemarie know each other and having met on a tour of Rosemarrie's Universal Design Living Laboratory, Gretchen, what did you, when did you first hear about universal design? Is it something you knew about or did you learn about it from Rosemarie's house?
Gretchen Roginson: I think I learned about it at Rosemarie's house. I mean, my math isn't math-ing from 2012 tour, but I think the Columbus Realtors went to Rosemarie's house about 12, 13 years ago and the topic seemed interesting to me and I knew that I was gonna be visiting a beautiful home for the pictures, so I couldn't wait to check it out and then of course it just opens your eyes from there.
Juravich: So how do you now, now that you've learned more about it and you know about universal design versus accessibility, how do define universal design?
Roginson: Housing for all, really. And it's sustainable for a lifetime. So when you look at the features that are included, it just seems like this is the way housing should be for more people. We truly aren't serving the most amount of people. Obviously you can't serve everyone, but the design features make it more safe and comfortable for more.
Juravich: When I think about the housing market, I mean, I think a lot of the house like mine, I have an older home, it's two stories, the bathroom's on the second floor. So there's steps, obviously. They're not, older houses are not accessible, right? And if you have physical limitations, I mean my house would definitely not work. Are there just a lot of homes that were built that way?
Roginson: Yes, I mean, the housing stock doesn't accommodate for the current needs and I think the emerging needs of even more people. I mean each year more people are reporting having a disability, whether it's visible to each other or an invisible disability, you know, cognitive, emotional even. And so, you now, in my opinion, we're at well over 50% of people are reporting that a universal design in a home can really help them with their day to day. And no, it's very challenging to find that existing on the market.
Juravich: Rosemary, how hard is it in your opinion, just from all of your research on this, how hard it is to adapt an existing home to make it comply with universal design elements?
Rossetti: Well, every home's gonna be different. Some of them, if you just put a ramp in and maybe put in some swing-away door hinges to make that door entrance a little wider. I mean, those are very easy modifications, but going into the bathroom, it could be a major, major expense to remodel a bathroom with a curbless entry shower and wider doorways and bigger spaces for a wheelchair. I mean I need a five-foot turning area. If somebody's in a wheelchair, you need a bigger space throughout the house and the hallways also. So at some point you look at a house and say, it's just going to be too costly. Let's look for something else.
Juravich: Yeah. One thing about your house, Rosemary, that I also found whenever I was looking at the virtual tour that I hadn't even thought about is like the laundry room, for example. So you need a five foot space to be able to like you because you want to be able to use the laundry, room, do the laundry. And I bet that most houses that you look at probably don't have a laundry room that a wheelchair can fit in.
Rossetti: Right, and most of them are in the basement, which is not very convenient. Of course, our home has an elevator, and it would have accommodated the laundry room in the bathroom, but I would have no part of that. This is so much more accessible, and people who come to our house and go into our laundry room, which is also our big closet, you know, we just call it the wardrobe, they're amazed with the center island. And all the storage on shelving and hanging space for Mark and for me and the washer and dryer are both on raised pedestals.
Juravich: Gretchen, talk to me about adapting a home versus a new build and what's the right way to go.
Roginson: Well, I mean, homes can be adapted, like Rosemary mentioned. I mean adding a ramp, maybe expanding some doorways. We have to make a zero step entry at some point. There's accessories that can help people still be comfortable and safe in an existing home that has a bathtub, for instance. There are benches that, so long as someone can transfer safely, there's some benches that can go over the bathtub. And so You know, each house, like Rosemary said, each house has its challenges, but many of them can be overcome. In the new build space, we are seeing some builders be really thoughtful about making lower thresholds to gain entry or to exit at the front or the rear. And in that case, you can use some removable accessories, some ramps and curbs, literally you can find them on Amazon. And it can make, you know, even someone who's using a walker or crutches, you know even just simple. Surgeries or recoveries, making your home more accessible can be done simply and then sometimes it is more costly.
Juravich: This is All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. We're talking about accessible housing with universal design expert Rosemarie Rossetti and realtor Gretchen Rogenson with Coldwell Banker Realty. So Gretjen, when you look at today's homeowners, what would you say a typical profile is? They're older, do they have their forever home? Like what is a typical, like are they're holding onto their home longer? Is there a typical homeowner?
Roginson: I mean, I deal with people of all ages. And now that I'm older, I feel like I'm dealing with older folks as well. But what's interesting is when I'm working with each homeowner, now that I have met Rosemary and I've been working on some accessibility designs myself, I'm constantly finding myself talking to even the young folks about adding a ramp or a curb or talking about the laundry is in the basement here and I know that you have back problems. You know, just identifying things in their life. That I can point out to say, and oh, by the way, if you ever needed to change this or modify this to be easier to use or safer to use, it's possible in this home. Or conversely, like if I'm in Clintonville, I remind folks like, hey, do you have anyone in your life that might try to come visit you who might find this home a challenge to gain entry or to take a shower? So like a first floor shower, first floor full bath, zero entry. And a nice turn radius, those are all ways that homes can be visitable. So not only just for the homeowner who's gonna live there, but if they want anyone to come visit, homes also need to be visit, visitable
Juravich: Yeah, the visitable or visitability is a word I've never used before. But Rosemary, talk to me about that because I have to think that, I mean, you sound like you open up your home to people to come and look at it. So maybe you're the hosting type and you host people at your house. But do you find that when people invite you over, do you have to think like, oh, I don't know if I'm going to be able to get into your house to visit you.
Rossetti: Absolutely. And there are many, many friends who I've tried to get into their homes and it's just been a struggle. And if I'm there for a while and I say, may I use your bathroom? And they point to the second floor. It's not easy for me to climb steps to a second floor bathroom. And so those friends know that I'll not come back to their home for dinner. They're going to meet at a restaurant or come to our house because it's too much. I'm taking... A very big risk as I'm trying to get into the house and trying to utilize their bathroom.
Juravich: Yeah, do you feel like you have to give a questionnaire to someone if they invite you over to your house? Thank you for your dinner invitation. But first, answer this, this, and this.
Rossetti: I pretty much know my friend's housing situation, and they know my situation, so they would never put me in harm by saying, no, we have to have you at our house.
Juravich: Like, no, I can't come. Gretchen, you have some statistics from the CDC that give a snapshot of adults with disabilities. And mobility isn't the only challenge to consider whenever you're considering a living space. Can you tell me a little bit more about some of these disabilities that we need to take note of when we're thinking about where we live?
Roginson: Sure, and these are things that I didn't even know of, you know, after touring the Living Laboratory. I figured it was all just mobility challenges, but as I joined some online communities and joined other workshops, I realized that it goes way beyond mobility. And we talk about challenges related to cognitive, you know memory care and the ability to see into cabinets with some glass fronts. Predictability of visual vision through the front and rear very easily, also hearing, vision, and so not to mention anyone on the autism spectrum. I've talked with parents who talk about how difficult it is to, you know, work with the housing that they're in because of some special needs in that regard. So the CDC in 2023 reported 61 million adults living with a ability. And I hear the word adults. And I think in my work, we take children into these homes, too. And so there's just a huge community. And yet, 1% of housing is accessible or visitable. And that's where we need to do better. 1%? Maybe less in many areas.
Juravich: Okay. All right. Well, so my next question was, how is the Columbus housing market doing? So I, not great, but is this a Columbus or Ohio problem? This is an everywhere problem.
Roginson: I think I saw a Columbus statistic once that said nearly 20% of adults live with one or more disability, but I'm sure that is very low, again, from a reporting standpoint. So in terms of just understanding the concepts and how important it is to be thoughtful when remodeling or building new, I think builders are slowly understanding that instead of putting their foot down to say these are the only designs we offer. To be a little bit more flexible, to learn and be curious about the individual purchasing and their family. Remember, it's not just them, but someone who's important to them wants to come for Thanksgiving or a birthday party. How can we adjust our designs so that more people can be safe and comfortable in their homes?
Juravich: Rosemary, do you know if there's any states or cities or building companies that do a better job than others? I mean, do have like a read on the country versus just what we're talking about here? No, I don't have data. Okay. Well, whenever you think about Columbus's housing market and people talk to you about that, do you feel like after someone visits your home that maybe they'll think about improving things? Like, what do you hear anecdotally, I guess, is what is the data you do have.
Rossetti: Oh, anecdotally.
Juravich: I hear a lot.
Rossetti: Yeah. We've had a group that came in a tour bus. These were all older adults, a full tour bus, and we heard later as they left and were going on to their next field trip destination, that's all they talked about was the changes that could be made in their homes. Simple changes like the light bulbs. I talked about aging eyes and how we need more lighting. And changing the light bulbs to LED so that they'll last your lifetime, you'll never have to change a light bulb again. And things like getting rid of the throw rugs, they're tripping hazards. Why do you have them throughout your home? So we were talking about the simplicity of buying a threshold ramp that could be purchased at hardware stores or online to make that threshold a lot easier to get If you're using a wheelchair or a walker.
Juravich: Have you ever had, do you have builders check in with you or invite you to check their projects for accessibility? Absolutely.
Rossetti: They come here often, they bring their construction team, their architectural and design team, and Mark and I sometimes work with them if they have a project. They'll bring the buyer in with them, and we'll just set the plans on our kitchen table and go over them very, very carefully to say, here are some things that could make this house even better.
Juravich: Gretchen what are you noticing with with new builds? I you know there were We're having a housing crisis. If you hadn't noticed in central Ohio. A lot of homes are being built. Everyone says not fast enough Can these companies that need to build more homes faster? Worry about accessibility or do they just need to get the home up and in the cheapest way possible
Roginson: right, it always comes down to money. Yeah. And they say they can't. But I think, I think I feel like we're on a precipice of builders realizing that the more accessible the home, the more homes they can sell. So maybe not per home, you know, revenue, but in mass, you know in volume. And so we do see them making adjustments. And I find myself I help home buyers build about three new homes a year. And I'm always inserting my, have you thought about adding the first floor full bath and putting in a low threshold? Or have you though about not putting the microwave over the stove? Because in fact, that's actually a safety hazard for everyone, right? And so having a drawer microwave. And so we find that in building new, there are ways to introduce the concepts to. And of course, every time, the home buyer's like, oh my god, that's genius. Why doesn't everyone do this? And then you look at the new build consultant and they're like, I don't know, we just don't. And so, it's just an education.
Juravich: What about the wider door frames or the way the handles are? Do you talk about that too? Cause someone who is young and maybe not thinking about it might not think that they need a wider door or anything like that.
Roginson: Sure, and it just takes one twisted ankle doing your landscaping and one injured back, one surgical procedure when you realize that healing at home is very important. You don't want to have to go into a rehabilitation facility. We actually can heal at home if our homes have wider doorways so that when you're using those crutches while you're recuperating, you can get easily into the bathroom. And so all these concepts make so much sense. When you give some examples of things that could happen in their life or, again, in their child's life or in their family member's life that could make visiting them or living there more successful.
Juravich: Rosemary Rosetti and Gretchen Rogenson are staying with us and coming up what Ohio's aging population tells us about the future needs of housing. We're going to talk with the executive director of the Center for Real Estate at Ohio State. That is when all sides continues on 89 7 NPR news. You're listening to All Sides. I'm your host, Amy Juravich. We're talking this hour about the concept of universal design and the importance of making homes livable for a lifetime. But what does that mean? And is there enough accessible housing on the market? Still with us is Rosemary Rosetti, a leading expert in disability inclusion, universal design, and accessibility. She and her husband, Mark Lader, led the design team who were the general contractors of their Columbus home, which is known as the Universal Design Living Laboratory. Thanks again for being here today, Rosemary. Oh, it's my pleasure. And also still with us is Gretchen Rogenson, a Realtor in central Ohio for 23 years and a Design and Accessibility Consultant with Coldwell Banker Realty. Thanks again, for being here Gretchen. You're welcome, thank you. And joining us now we have Trey Addison, Interim Executive Director of the Center for Real Estate at The Ohio State University. Welcome to all sides, Trey.
Trey Addison: Hi, how are you?
Juravich: So Trey, can you tell us what the Center for Real Estate does? What's your role?
Addison: Absolutely. So in my role, we do all things real estate, and we see it in three buckets. The number one bucket for us is, of course, students. Our talent output at The Ohio State University is the number one thing we have. Our ability to deploy Ohio State grads to phenomenal opportunities around the globe is our central focus, and that's what we do. So ensuring that our students that are focused in real estate or even architectural students construction, get opportunities to go to great companies and do phenomenal things. The second area of focus for us is research. And we stood up our research operation last year focused on affordable housing as well as student housing, of course. That's what we do. We're in the business of students at Ohio State, making sure they have a safe and clean place to live is critical when we're researching what that's gonna look like for the future generation. And the third aspect of what we do is thought leadership. We host, we are truly the convener. Not only in the region, but really across the country on a number of different areas, particular to real estate. And as a convener, we host fireside chats, we do things like this, do interviews and provide data points, concepts, and really bring everyone together to talk about big issues like the one you guys are talking about today. So very timely and something that we're actually gonna be doubling down on, looking at accessibility and senior housing pretty soon. So. That's what we do in a nutshell.
Juravich: Yeah. And Trey, prior to your time with Ohio State, you were involved in multiple real estate ventures and some private companies. But between your work at Ohio State and your time in real estate, how aware are you of this accessibility issue of people's homes not being livable for a lifetime? Talk to me about this issue as a whole. Yeah.
Addison: Very aware. Prior to Ohio State and my real estate journey and adventure for the last 10 years, I lobbied for many years for AARP as well as the Alzheimer's Association. So the nexus of accessibility, aging in place, and all things related was critical. And I fell in love with real estate actually was just that. It was really realizing we had a silver tsunami that's And from a housing standpoint, are we truly prepared for that, particularly in Ohio? And I think, you know, the Dewine administration has done a good job at providing some resources, but I think we need a whole heck of a lot more based off of what we're seeing across the state of Ohio. Frankly, during my time just advocating on behalf of seniors, we've seen it. You know, housing affordability for seniors and designing it with intent and true intentionality. It's just not there and I don't it's not to for any developer or anyone. I just think it's just from concept concept standpoint We're just kind of moving in a very slow pace But the the tide of aging adults particularly in the state of Ohio is coming very fast particularly in areas rural areas of course Which we don't see a huge demand for development, but we're also seeing it in our downtown in our central core. So Franklin County, Cuyahoga County, who have huge aging populations. How are we building with intentionality? And unfortunately, we're not seeing that trend take shape.
Juravich: Yeah, Gretchen Trey mentioned he called it a silver tsunami, which is just more people aging and wanting to age in place and stay in their home. And if they can't convert their home, because Rosemary and you and I, we talked about that earlier, that it's expensive sometimes to convert homes. So if you want to build new, that's how Rosemary ended up building her own house is she couldn't find a ranch home on the market that worked. Um, are we building more? I don't even know if we call them ranch homes anymore. Don't we call the patio homes? Is it like they're built on a slab? I mean, talk to me about those.
Roginson: Yeah, so I mean, a ranch is a one story, right? And patio homes are often one story. And we are building more of those. We truly are. And I often find the home buyers who are making this transition, their retirement age, and they're either proactively looking, because they can see their future clearly, and they want to make proactive decisions and not be in crisis mode decision making, right. And then I see the folks who are in crisis mode. They've had a life event or a diagnosis or a surgery that didn't go just right. And so then we're frantically looking for the ranch design. So they are, builders are building more ranch homes. Sometimes they're patio homes. The other rub is people still want a yard and they're not really ready to get rid of their things. And so these can often be smaller floor plans. And so just really being ready to make the transition. Has a lot of moving pieces and parts to it.
Juravich: Trey, earlier we talked about whether builders will build these homes and if they can make money on them. If more housing was built using universal design, do you think it would become cheaper overall if there was the demand?
Addison: I think as long as the demand is there, obviously, you know, I think naturally when you start to get to scale, pricing starts to come down, right? I think what you have as a X factor now is a very fragile, to some extent, economy. And you also have rates and rates in real estate go hand in hand, right. The more the lower the rate, the more you see real estate get built. The higher the rate there is some compression there. And we're seeing that across the board, even, you know, as we look at cost to build. I mean, we have some phenomenal builders. In central Ohio, just at the residential level, to the point earlier, but I think we also have some phenomenal senior affordable housing developers, National Church Residency, Homeport, et cetera, et cetera do phenomenal projects. However, when we think about design intention, I think it's something that will get there, but pricing has to come down and compress. I think there also has to be incentives quite candidly from the state, from the counties. And from the local communities. I think without those in the capital stack, it makes just things more challenging to build with that type of intent, with cost escalations as well as ratings.
Juravich: So Trey, you're saying that the state could incentivize a builder to build more of these ranch style homes, right?
Addison: Oh yeah, absolutely. I think they're, because we're doing that, you know, in transformational projects, transformational mixed-use projects and things of that nature. The state supports projects like that, which is a good thing, right? I think it brings, in just true design, it brings vibrancy, it brings community to areas that need it. I think understanding our population and where our population is trending, whether it's aging adults or whether it is accessibility. I think we can look at opportunities to create that incentive pool, even if it's infrastructure incentives, right? It doesn't even have to be directly in the capital stack, but an infrastructure incentive goes a long way to help a developer see an opportunity through because it offsets their costs, which is a huge deal. And I think you can build with intention when you've got that type of security. We've seen that across around the globe, quite candidly, I mean, obviously, I look at Europe as an example where they've done things like this to support accessible populations as well as aging populations. And we're tracking that. And again, I think at the center, it's going to be a big deal for us simply because we're in a state that is aging. And as we're an estate that's aging, we look at our 88 counties, many of them are aging counties. So how do we start to see things through that lens? So we're at like the younger end of inspection with students and we're gonna look at the older end of inspecting with our older adults and our folks that need assessment.
Juravich: This is All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. We're talking about accessible housing with universal design expert Rosemary Rossetti, Realtor Gretchen Rogenson, and Trey Addison from Ohio State's Center for Real Estate. Trey, one more question for you. You just mentioned that Ohio could incentivize this. Are there other states or cities that are further along that are doing a better job than Ohio? They are making more universal design homes.
Addison: No, very good question, Amy. I think when you look at other states, we look at mirror states. And when we think about mirror states is you look in states like Florida, Arizona, of course, states where people go to age and not saying we want people to come to Ohio, we do, but we want to live in place, age in place here in Ohio and stay in Ohio, invest in Ohio. So when you're looking at what those states are doing, I think they're creating solutions from a tax side, ensuring that taxes are lower for those individuals was also... Looking at infrastructure options that incentivize that type of development. Even if you look in the Midwest, I think Michigan's doing some creative things as well just to keep their population as they age in Michigan and aging in place in Michigan, which is critical to the success of the state.
Juravich: Rosemary, to bring you back to the conversation, you and your husband spent a long time building your home. You told me about that earlier in the program, but it sounds like this needs to be done more quickly to meet market demand. Can we build an accessible universal design house faster?
Rossetti: There's no need to look at a difference in timing. When you're looking at the design, it's the design phase. It's not the speed of construction. There's not difference between a non-accessible and an accessible home in terms of the number of months it would take to build that home. It's just a matter of designing it from the beginning.
Juravich: Yeah, Gretchen, can you weigh in there on that design from the beginning? So you said you help homeowners every year, you know, pick out everything. But if the options aren't accessible, they might not think of it if they don't have you sitting with them. Right.
Roginson: That makes me sad. Well, and prior to even learning more about this, I mean, yes, I actually go back to remodeling, truly, when I think about how can we also make some headway. When you're remodeling your existing home and just updating your kitchens and baths, this is a great time to insert these types of design features that can make it more safe and comfortable. And so it's just a matter of educating people about some simple simple ways that we can make sure that, you know, when you do take down all the tile in the bathroom and ways in which to fortify those walls, okay, you don't want to put up the grab bar just yet, but there are some things that you do need to do behind the walls to make it successful in the future. And so, yes, getting ahead of the curve and from the beginning with the infrastructure, that is what can really make it successfully later when you choose to make some changes.
Juravich: Trey, there's a lot of housing going up right now in central Ohio. There's a big need and demand. We have a housing crisis, basically. We need more homes faster. How can we ensure that those new homes being built right now are going to be accessible and universal? Or do we just, we need more of everything?
Addison: I think it's an, and I hate to say this, but it's in all of the above strategy, right? I think you need more of everything in this environment. Good problem to have frankly, in central Ohio, as we're growing pretty fast, housing affordability, workforce housing, you name it, we need to run the gamut. I think more specifically on how we do that is truly changing design intent. I think Rosemary mentioned that it doesn't take the duration of the project, doesn't it take longer to build with that intention. The challenge is... Having architects and building a design focus around with intention, right? I think that takes what we do at the Knowlton School or what Knowlten School does at Ohio State to start to design that way. It takes working with architectural firms throughout central Ohio to start to design with that intent. And frankly, I'd said it earlier, the center is at the center of that, no pun intended. We should be able to convene architects and say, hey, here's some design concepts that we can think through. At the multifamily scale. As well as on the residential side. And we, at the center, we have an executive committee which consists of the largest developers, both residential and multifamily in the market. So our function is to create that exposure to them and understand that if the cost doesn't escalate, how do we ensure that they're building with that type of intent? So I think it is truly an all of the above strategy. I think starts though. At the very early phases. I mean, we've seen that play out in other countries where they learn that in school because they're preparing for what the country is gonna look like in the future. So you have to naturally design with intent throughout the progression of your career. And that's what you're learning early on, but I think it's just convening architects to think differently.
Juravich: And Gretchen, just to end on, there's also the issue of financing. I mean, are you having people, is there any benefits? Like if you're gonna build an accessible house, will it be easier or harder to get a loan? Or does it just depend on each person's finances?
Roginson: No, I don't think it's harder to get a loan. I mean, your home will... Yeah, in terms of financing the home, there's nothing different. Again, just like it doesn't take longer to build. And I believe, I truly believe that creating these spaces that are inclusive, safe and comfortable for more people will increase the value of your real estate because we always wanna offer this home to the most amount of people as possible. We'll really... It's probably about 75% of people can enter this home, but really if we make some more thoughtful choices, then even more people can buy it. So the resale value, I believe. And now that finishes and fixtures are beautiful and esthetic in design, it doesn't look institutional. Like you mentioned before, how do you make it not look like a hospital bathroom? It's gorgeous now. There's rose gold fixtures and stainless steel and everything to make it look. Just absolutely stunning, and I think that's what surprises people and should make them want to be interested and curious about this concept.
Juravich: I want to say thank you to Gretchen Roginson, a Realtor in Central Ohio and a Design and Accessibility Consultant with Coldwell Banker Realty. Thank you for your time today, Gretjen. And Trey Addison, Interim Executive Director of the Center for Real Estate at Ohio State University. Trey, thanks for joining us. Thank you. And Rosemarie Rossetti, a leading expert in disability inclusion, universal design and accessibility. Rosemarie, thank you so much for your time in this topic today. You're most welcome. You've been listening to All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. I'm Amy Juravich.