One year after the release of the report An Unprecedented Look at Accessibility in Small Buildings Open to the Public, the Office des personnes handicapées du Québec reports encouraging progress. Several initiatives are underway to improve accessibility in Québec’s built environment, with direct impacts for syndicates of co-ownership and building managers.
In a recent communication to the Regroupement des gestionnaires de copropriétés du Québec, the Office presented the status report on the follow-up to its recommendations as of January 31, 2025. This update follows the report tabled in 2023 before the Commission de l’économie et du Travail, which provided an unprecedented portrait of accessibility in small buildings open to the public.
The objective remains clear: reduce barriers encountered by persons with disabilities in accessing shops, services, and public spaces, many of which are located in co-ownership buildings or on the ground floor of residential buildings.
A progress report showing real mobilization
According to the official follow-up report, as of January 31, 2025, four of the nine recommendations issued by the Office are in progress, two are implemented on an ongoing basis, and three have not yet begun.
Recommendations currently in progress include:
Harmonizing construction and building safety codes to apply a single code across all buildings in Québec, including accessibility requirements
Initiatives to make buildings open to the public constructed before 1976 more accessible
The creation of a working group to raise awareness among owners, tenants, and designers about the importance of accessibility
Promotion of a fiscal incentive to support renovations that improve accessibility
These orientations directly reflect concerns within the co-ownership sector, where many buildings house shops, offices, or services open to the public, sometimes in older properties.
A harmonized building code across Québec
The Régie du bâtiment du Québec is currently working to standardize construction and safety regulations across the province. Consultations are underway with municipalities and several associations to establish a single regulatory framework applicable throughout Québec.
In time, this harmonization could simplify obligations for syndicates of co-ownership and building owners by clarifying accessibility standards to be met during construction, renovation, or changes in building use.
Another major initiative focuses on accessibility in buildings open to the public constructed before 1976. The RBQ and the Office plan to agree in 2025 on a strategy to improve accessibility in these buildings, without necessarily introducing immediate legislative amendments.
A significant portion of Québec’s co-ownership building stock predates this period. The planned work could therefore, in the medium term, influence upgrade requirements in certain buildings.
A working group to support owners and designers
A multisector working group has also been created to raise awareness among owners, tenants, and designers of small buildings where goods and services are offered to the public. It brings together the Office, the RBQ, the ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation, the SHQ, municipalities, and several accessibility specialists.
The group will also propose ways to inform, assist, and accompany establishments seeking to improve accessibility. This support approach could become a useful resource for syndicates of co-ownership planning adaptation work.
Revenu Québec is deploying a communication plan to promote the tax deduction for renovations or transformations that improve building accessibility, with campaigns running through fall 2025.
This financial incentive remains little known in the real estate sector. However, it could help reduce the cost of adaptation work in co-ownership buildings.
Two recommendations are implemented on an ongoing basis: encouraging municipalities to promote existing incentive measures and to include, in their annual action plans, measures to improve accessibility in small buildings open to the public.
This municipal dimension is particularly relevant for syndicates of co-ownership, as several assistance programs or local requirements flow through municipal administrations.
What this means for co-ownership
Although these initiatives primarily target small buildings open to the public, their impacts directly reach the co-ownership sector:
Progressive clarification of applicable accessibility standards
Potential upgrade obligations in older buildings
New support tools for planning adaptation work
Fiscal incentives to reduce renovation costs
An increased role for municipalities in promoting accessibility
As building management becomes increasingly structured and preventive, these developments align with recent reforms affecting governance and maintenance of the building stock.
A transformation to monitor closely
The progress report confirms that the Office remains committed to monitoring implementation of its recommendations and to collaborating with partners to improve accessibility in Québec’s built environment. The report also reiterates that ministries and public bodies must formally respond to the Office’s recommendations and justify any decision not to act on them.
For the RGCQ and its members, these initiatives represent an opportunity to take a proactive position in advancing universal accessibility in co-ownership buildings.
Consult the full report here [in French only].
