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Shaped by its late co-founder Kelsey Flynn O’Connor’s experience as a disabled advocate for access and community, The Kelsey is pioneering disability-forward housing solutions that open doors to homes and opportunities for everyone.

An illustration of people with and without disabilities, some standing and some in wheelchairs, putting large and colorful building blocks together.

It’s hard to give value to people with disabilities if you don’t have proximity and see them as real people who have the same kinds of lived experiences that you do.  So, the more separation that we have, the less we’re really getting to the problem.

Abby Yim, Integrated Community Services

For media inquiries, contact anna@thekelsey.org

The Kelsey in the News

FHL Bank San Francisco logo

FHL Bank San Francisco

A New Model for Accessible Housing
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The seal of the City and County of San Francisco is pictured next to the text, “SF.gov.”

SF.gov

Mayor Lurie Cuts Ribbon on New Accessible 100% Affordable Housing Community
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The logo for "PBS News Hour." The letters "PBS" are written in black, while the words "news" and "hour" are written in red.

PBS NewsHour: Brief But Spectacular

A Brief But Spectacular take on building inclusive communities
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The UCD Alumni logo.

UCD Connections Alumni Magazine

Master’s Plan: Micaela Connery Interview
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Silicon Valley at Home logo

Silicon Valley at Home

Disability Pride Month: Designing Housing that Welcomes Everyone
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The logo for "Affordable Housing Finance"

Affordable Housing Finance

San Francisco Development Sets a New Standard for Accessibility
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The logo of the Urban Land Institute

Urban Land Institute

ULI Announces Finalists for 2025 Jack Kemp, Terwilliger Center Innovation Awards
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New York Amsterdam News logo

New York Amsterdam News

The Housing Barrier Part 3: One housing developer’s solution
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New York Amsterdam News logo

New York Amsterdam News

The Housing Barrier Part 1: Gun violence survivors struggle to find accessible housing
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The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation logo

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation

The Kelsey: Providing accessible homes and community for people of all abilities
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The National Low-Income Housing Coalition logo

National Low Income Housing Coalition

The Kelsey Releases Advocate’s Guide on Advancing...
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The logo of the National League of Cities. Three blue letters read NLC" with the words "National League of Cities" written out next to them.

National League of Cities

Disability-Forward Design Across Multiple Cities
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The logo for The San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Chronicle

New Disability-Forward Housing in S.F.'s Civic Center Pays Homage
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The logo of the Urban Institute

Urban Institute

Embedding Disability Equity into Efforts to Advance Upward Mobility
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The logo for Financial Times. Pink letters, "FT" on a black square with a pink background behind them. "Financial Times" is written underneath.

Financial Times

How a cousin’s disability inspired an inclusive housing organisation
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The logo for "Affordable Housing Finance"

Affordable Housing Finance

The Kelsey Celebrates Its Inaugural Community
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The logo for the city of Denver. It's a letter D with a sun in the middle of it. Text below it reads "Denver, The Mile High City."

Denver

Barriers, Solutions to Address Housing Needs for People with I/DD
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The logo of "Bham Now"-Turquoise letters spelling "Bham Now" written in cursive

Bham Now

New disability-forward housing coming to Avondale in 2026
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The logo of an ABC news station. The letters ABC can be seen in a black circle. The numbers 33 and 40 are pictured on top of each other next to the circle. A variety of different color blues make up the pictures background.

ABC News

Disability-forward housing planned for Birmingham's Avondale community
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The logo of The San Francisco Chronicle.

San Francisco Chronicle

S.F. is one of three cities worldwide honored for promoting clean air. Here’s why
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The logo for "PBS News Hour." The letters "PBS" are written in black, while the words "news" and "hour" are written in red.

PBS News Hour

People with disabilities face extra hurdles amid national housing shortage
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The logo for SF Yimby-White letters spell out "SF Yimby" against a black background

SF Yimby

Affordable Housing Tops Out in Civic Center, San Francisco
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The logo for SF Gate-SF Gate is visible in big red letters

SF Gate

San Jose Apartments Designed For People With Disabilities
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The logo for the San Jose Spotlight

San José Spotlight

San Jose apartments designed for people with disabilities
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The logo of ksn.com.

NBC KSN

Priced Out: Affordable homes needed for disabled people
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The logo for CBS 42

CBS 42

City of Birmingham to do away with minimum parking space requirements
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The logo for Buckrail

Buckrail

Housing Department launches accessibility assessment
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Logo for Open Minds. Logo reads "Open Minds" with an image of the outline of a person's head made up of squares.

Open Minds

Denver Asks Landlords & Builders About Barriers To Housing People With I/DD
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Text of logo reads "Mile High" with the letters C R E in three colored circles below.

Mile High CRE

DHS Awards Contract to Nonprofit Developer The Kelsey
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The logo for the city of Denver. It's a letter D with a sun in the middle of it. Text below it reads "Denver, The Mile High City."

Denver

DHS IDDEAS Program awards contract to Nonprofit The Kelsey
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The logo of the Urban Institute

Urban Institute

Trauma-Informed Housing
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HUD Logo

HUD Channel

The 50th Anniversary of The Rehabilitation Act: Past Present and Future
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The logo of the Urban Land Institute

Urbanland

Affordability and Accessibility: From Bad to Worse in a Tight U.S. Housing Market
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Two elderly, light-skinned women sit at a table that has flowers on it.

CNBC - Personal Finance

Personal Finance Less than 5% of U.S. housing supply is accessible to older, disabled Americans. These changes may help
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A light skinned woman wearing an orange button down shirt and tan pants wheels through a room in a wheelchair.

The New York Times

How to Make Your Home Accessible
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The sign above the entrance way of Silicon Valley Bank

Affordable Housing Finance

Silicon Valley Bank’s Fall Hits Affordable Housing
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The resident entry of The Kelsey Civic Center. Children and adults, including one in a wheelchair, are outside the building.

San Francisco Examiner

Affordable housing project breaks ground steps away from City Hall
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Image of people in a small lobby with a painting representing people of different races on the wall. We see a staircase in the lobby, as well as two people and a child using crutches,

Shelterforce

Cross-Disability Design Makes Housing Better for Everyone
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People with and without disabilities wearing construction hard hats and vests visiting a construction site at The Kelsey Ayer Station in San Jose.

Inside Philanthropy

How Funders Need to Change to Spark a Revolution in Accessible, Affordable, Inclusive Housing
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The logo for "Affordable Housing Finance"

Affordable Housing Finance

Silicon Valley Bank’s Fall Hits Affordable Housing
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Text on Image reads "Eve Pickler's Rethinking Real Estate for Good." Micaela Connery, A white woman smiling at the camera with long, wavy, brown hair, is pictured wearing a yellow shirt.

Rethinking Real Estate for Good

Disability Forward Housing
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A close up of someone's hand on the wheel of a wheelchair.

The Hill

There is a looming housing crisis for people with disabilities. Here’s how we can act now.
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A screenshot of 5 people speaking at the research launch event. The top left person is using ASL.

Urban Institute

People with Disabilities Living in the US Face Urgent Barriers to Housing
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Text on image reads "Reed Autism Services, Cutting Edge Inclusive Communities. Ep. 2, With Micaela Connery and Isaac Haney-Owens, Co-founder & CEO,. The Kelsey, Communications Analyst, The Kelsey. The logos for Spotify, itunes, and YouTube are pictured. Micaela Connery and Isaac Haney-Owens are pictured. Micaela is a light skinned woman with long, dark hair wearing gold earrings. She is wearing a green shirt and a gray sweater. Isaac Haney-Owens is a dark-haired man wearing glasses, a blue sweater, and a t-shirt underneath.

Changemakers in Autism Podcast

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Justin Tsang, a young Asian man, is pictured holding a coffee cup looking through shutters. He has ark hair and is wearing a blue button down shirt.

Forbes

This Team Is Redefining ‘Home For The Holidays’ For People With Disabilities
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A light skinned person with a beard wearing glasses and a blue shirt. A plant is visible behind them.

This is Landscape

Shapes of Power with Micaela Connery of The Kelsey
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The exterior of The Kelsey Civic Center

SF Yimby

Demolition Permits Filed For Kelsey Civic Center in the Civic Center, San Francisco
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An Image of a dark-skinned man sitting in a wheelchair. He is wearing a hat, glasses, a t-shirt and light-colored pants. In the background a window and clothes hanging on a cabinet can be seen.

Center for American Progress

Disability-Forward Policy Recommendations To Advance Accessible and Affordable Housing for All
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A black and white photo of Micaela Connery, a light skinned woman with long dark hair. She is smiling and wearing earings and a button-down shirt. with a collar

Whole Whale

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A picture of a phone shows the Civic Center page on the website.

Design Week

The identity for a disability-inclusive housing group resists “outdated perceptions”
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Text against a white background reads "reasons to be cheerful." The world cheerful is highlighted in yellow.

Reasons to be Cheerful

Cooperative Housing Is Redefining ‘Home’ for People with Disabilities
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San Francisco City Hall

Curbed - San Francisco

Affordable homes for disabled residents might go up right next to SF City Hall
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Micaela Connery a light skinned woman with long dark hair wearing a purple dress is seen walking with Liz Grigsby, a dark skinned woman in a wheelchair wearing a pink sweater and dark pants.

San Francisco Chronicle

SF affordable housing project would create homes for developmentally disabled
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The CEO of The Kelsey, Micaela Connery, is pictured with her cousin, Kelsey. Kelsey is a light-skinned woman with short dark hair. Micaela is a light-skinned woman with long dark hair. They are both smiling.

Google

Investing in affordable and inclusive communities
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Two people outside of a doorway hug, as three other people, one who is in a wheelchair, look on.

FOX KTVU

New housing project in San Jose to help those with disabilities
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Image of Micaela Connery, a light skinned woman with dark hair, working on a laptop, in a duo pop filter. Text on image reads "Micaela Connery: Fellow Spotlight Series."

Harvard Social Innovation Change Initiative

Micaela Connery: Building Inclusive Housing in the Bay Area
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Media Bios

A white woman smiling at the camera with long, wavy, brown hair. She is wearing gold hoop earrings and a white button-up shirt standing in front of a black wall.

Micaela Connery

Co-founder and CEO
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White queer person smiling in their manual wheelchair with short brown hair, round glasses, earrings, and a blazer.

Allie Cannington

Director of Advocacy and Organizing
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