Uploaded February 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Over 90 percent of the housing in the United States is not wheel chair accessible. The situation is worse in the other counties of the developed world—most especially the United Kingdom and Japan. For eight years, e-architect’s Joel Solkoff lived in Addison Court, a low-to-moderate income eight-story Independant living apartment building on a major downtown street in State College, Pennsylvania which is home to Penn State, a private university. Penn State owns the local airport and is the largest landholder of any organization in the politically.critical state of Pennsylvania.
Addison Court is restricted to residents 55 years of age and older. Although theoretically residents are required to be sufficiently healthy to live independently, the reality is that 15 percent of its approximately 80 residents receive 24 hour health and nursing care because kind-hearted social workers and others at the county office of aging regard keeping them in place as preferable to the local nursing home. Many of the residents are disabled and require access to electricity for breathing equipment or ( like Joel who is a paraplegic ) the ability to charge electric wheel chairs and power chairs.
This video was filmed on New Year’s Day 2019 when after several hours of power failure, Joel left his apartment and filmed his neighbors and friends in the lobby waiting for assistance from the police and other responders. Housing at Addison Court is considerably better than comparable facilities elsewhere.
Although Pennsylvania is one of the most highly regulated states in the US and although Addison Court’s landlord receives substation federal subsidies, no back up electrical system is available to its residents. Joel writes, “This New Year’s Eve blackout served as the last straw. A month later, I moved to Williamsport, a small town an hour away where for the past 10 months, I have been living happily in a residential hotel. Many of my neighbors work in nearby oil and gas fields. Unlike State College’s Addison Court, my fellow residents are not all elderly, disabled and ill. I now see children and women and men of various ages regularly.
“The housing crisis for low and middle income Baby Boomers, my generation born after World War II, is a generation which rich and poor continues to dominate directly and indirectly the vast majority of architectural commissions. In the US, the public housing crisis requires massive design and construction of well over three million units.
In Japan, it’s Baby Boomer crisis threatens Tokyo’s position as a major global city. Japan’s crisis is a consequence of restrictions on immigration and low domestic birth rate. The low birth rate limits tax dollars for construction, health, and other projects as well as straining the shrinking pool of health providers.”
Over 90 percent of the housing in the United States is not wheel chair accessible. The situation is worse in the other counties of the developed world—most especially the United Kingdom and Japan. For eight years, e-architect’s Joel Solkoff lived in Addison Court, a low-to-moderate income eight-story Independant living apartment building on a major downtown street in State College, Pennsylvania which is home to Penn State, a private university. Penn State owns the local airport and is the largest landholder of any organization in the politically.critical state of Pennsylvania.
Addison Court is restricted to residents 55 years of age and older. Although theoretically residents are required to be sufficiently healthy to live independently, the reality is that 15 percent of its approximately 80 residents receive 24 hour health and nursing care because kind-hearted social workers and others at the county office of aging regard keeping them in place as preferable to the local nursing home. Many of the residents are disabled and require access to electricity for breathing equipment or ( like Joel who is a paraplegic ) the ability to charge electric wheel chairs and power chairs.
This video was filmed on New Year’s Day 2019 when after several hours of power failure, Joel left his apartment and filmed his neighbors and friends in the lobby waiting for assistance from the police and other responders. Housing at Addison Court is considerably better than comparable facilities elsewhere.
Although Pennsylvania is one of the most highly regulated states in the US and although Addison Court’s landlord receives substation federal subsidies, no back up electrical system is available to its residents. Joel writes, “This New Year’s Eve blackout served as the last straw. A month later, I moved to Williamsport, a small town an hour away where for the past 10 months, I have been living happily in a residential hotel. Many of my neighbors work in nearby oil and gas fields. Unlike State College’s Addison Court, my fellow residents are not all elderly, disabled and ill. I now see children and women and men of various ages regularly.
“The housing crisis for low and middle income Baby Boomers, my generation born after World War II, is a generation which rich and poor continues to dominate directly and indirectly the vast majority of architectural commissions. In the US, the public housing crisis requires massive design and construction of well over three million units.
In Japan, it’s Baby Boomer crisis threatens Tokyo’s position as a major global city. Japan’s crisis is a consequence of restrictions on immigration and low domestic birth rate. The low birth rate limits tax dollars for construction, health, and other projects as well as straining the shrinking pool of health providers.”
