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Board advances ordinance requiring grab bars and usable phone jacks in SRO common bathrooms
Summary
An ordinance amending the housing code to require grab bars in hotel common-use toilets and bathing facilities and to count missing telephone jacks as a substandard housing condition passed on first reading.
The Board of Supervisors on Feb. 12 passed on first reading an ordinance amending the housing code to require grab bars in hotel common-use toilets and bathing facilities and to include failure to provide a usable telephone jack and wiring as a substandard housing condition.
Sponsor Supervisor Marr said the measure is intended to improve safety and reduce isolation for seniors and residents with disabilities who live in single‑room occupancy (SRO) hotels. Marr credited organizing and research by senior and disability groups—Senior and Disability Action, Mission, Central City and Chinatown SRO collaborative groups—and named the Department of Building Inspection and the Mayor’s Office on Disability as partners in drafting implementation details.
Supervisor Kim and others emphasized the ordinance addresses falls and slip‑hazard prevention in shared bathrooms and reflects an ongoing effort to make aging‑in‑place safer for SRO residents. The Board took the ordinance on first reading by unanimous consent.
