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Welcome & Mission Statement


The SAFERhome Standards Society, established in January 2004,  is a non-profit, public interest organization, advocating a safer home environment and a better standard of living for all people through its certified building standards.

We offer both private and corporate memberships, and accept funding from government partners and other non-profit groups.

SAFERhome’s wonderful partners, friends, and volunteers, are dedicated to empower and protect all consumers who want a home to enhance their lifestyles and to make it a better real estate investment. Our SAFERhome Standards How-To Manual has been made available through the support of BC Housing and their seminar series Building Smart.

 Our Mission Statement

SAFERhome promotes the adoption and use of housing standards and practices that are safer, healthier and more sustainable for everyone in the community through the use of our 15–point SAFERhome Standards solution.

To achieve its objective SAFERhome provides home planning assistance, home inspection, and home certification programs for new home and renovation projects. SAFERhome also provides educational programs, publications, seminars and conferences while acting as a public interest lobby group with government and industry for the adoption of SAFERhome building standards and practices. 

SAFERhome also provides our SAFERhome Certification Residential Builders Course accredited through BC Housing teaching licensed builders how to incorporate the SAFERhome Standards into their building projects to create more sustainable housing and protecting consumers from misrepresentation.

As our communities are evolving, we are experiencing a huge demographic shift with the aging of our population. The latest Statistics Canada figures reveal the number of older adults and seniors in our communities will continue to increase at unprecedented rates. By the year 2032, 48% of Canadians will be over 65 years old.  Many seniors traditionally use canes, walkers, and scooters to maintain their independence.  Fact is, most people want to be able to stay in their own homes and communities, for as long as possible, without the need for costly future renovations.

By building to SAFERhome Standards, the community is directly served with more appropriate housing that keeps people safer, active, and independent in their own homes longer. Nobody wants to be forced to leave their homes because of ailing or failing health. And, everything we do for our aging parents and grandparents works just as well for our children. Each year in Canada over 400,000 children are admitted to hospital from injuries in the home that are preventable. 

SAFERhome Standards are the only universal building standard in the world that is measurable and recognized by a provincial government.

SAFERhome Standards were created by the Trades, and are inclusive design, meaning a SAFERhome works for 99% of the population and their individual needs. SAFERhomes are structurally and electronically pre-prepared. All of our Building Standards are incorporated into a home at the framing stage prior to drywall,  making them virtually "invisible" in the home. The only thing you will notice is how much better the flow, functionality, and ease of use the home provides you, regardless of your age or ability.  We are also the only people in the world who are working to truly include people with disabilities into housing that removes the negative and non-inclusive segregation that comes from the disability language and look.  A SAFERhome is truly ready to adapt and support everyone and their individual needs through better home design no matter your age or walk of life.


Have You Ever Wanted a Home that:

  • is a “better” real estate investment,
  • truly works to improve the physical safety of the entire family,
  • can easily be adapted to meet your family’s needs both now and in the future,
  • is ready to be more energy efficient,
  • offers a ‘one-level living’ lifestyle in any multi-level design,
  • is age-friendly for everyone from young to old and allows for aging-in-place solutions,
  • is built to the only measurable, trademarked, Universal Design Standard in the world.


By adopting the SAFERhome Standards into your build, you can have it all.  Insist on having anything you buy or build meet the SAFERhome Certification criteria. If your Builder or Realtor says that it is there, ask them to “prove it” and make any contracts or offers subject to: “Written proof of successful SAFERhome Certification”.

The SAFERhome Standards are all within the existing Provincial and National Building Codes.  You now have a real housing choice of getting more in your home than the traditionally accepted minimum building standard. The SAFERhome Standards 15-Point Criteria show you just how easy it is to do.

SAFERhome Standards is the only 100% measurable and tangible "Gold Standard" in Universal Home Design. 

Universal Design is a way to build homes that work for all people, and simply put, SAFERhome Standards homes look better, work better, and are worth more.

Our Municipal Members showing leadership:

  • City of Vernon Mayor Akbal Mund

The City of Vernon is an active supporter of SAFERhome Standards being incorporated in all residential construction.  For example, the City has a rental housing grant program wherein eligible grant projects are to be constructed in accordance with SAFERhome standards.  The 15-point standards of SAFERhome are exceedingly cost effective when included as part of new construction.

We consider including the SAFERhome Standards in the design and construction of a new home as a “no-brainer’.  It allows homeowners to live comfortably and to age in place without there being a need for costly and inconvenient home renovations.

  •  City of Maple Ridge & City of Armstrong
  • Patrick Condon, UBC Faculty of Landscape Architecture

“Cities cannot be sustainable unless the homes within them are.”