News

Inspired 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 image 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

The Kelsey co-develops accessible, affordable, inclusive multifamily housing for people with and without disabilities. Available to those making 20% to 80% of area median income, The Kelsey housing allows disabled people and others with a wide range of needs and life experiences to live side by side in equally high-quality homes. With its first community open in San Jose, Calif., and 112 homes in development in San Francisco—some of the nation’s most challenging housing markets—The Kelsey proves this model is buildable anywhere. In addition to developing housing and providing on-site Inclusion Concierge services, which promote connection among residents, The Kelsey advocates for policy changes that enable inclusive housing and provides tools and templates for others who want to build housing using The Kelsey’s model.

Click to Download

For media inquiries, contact anna@thekelsey.org

The Kelsey Featured on PBS NewsHour!

We are honored and excited to share that The Kelsey was featured on PBS NewsHour! Tune in to learn more about how the housing crisis disproportionately affects people with disabilities and how we’re addressing this critical issue.

Over 70 million people with disabilities in the United States face barriers to housing, including the cost of housing, discrimination, a severe lack of accessible housing, and more. Our mission is to make affordable, accessible, and inclusive housing, what we call “disability-forward” housing, the norm, and we are grateful to be a part of a field and community that is pushing to make this a reality.

The Kelsey in the News

The logo of the Urban Institute

Urban Institute

Embedding Disability Equity into Efforts to Advance Upward Mobility
Read My Story

Financial Times

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

Affordable Housing Finance

The Kelsey Celebrates Its Inaugural Community
Read My Story
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
Read My Story

Bham Now

New disability-forward housing coming to Avondale in 2026
Read My Story

ABC News

Disability-forward housing planned for Birmingham's Avondale community
Read My Story

San Francisco Chronicle

S.F. is one of three cities worldwide honored for promoting clean air. Here’s why
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
The logo for SF Gate-SF Gate is visible in big red letters

SF Gate

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

San José Spotlight

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

NBC KSN

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

CBS 42

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

Buckrail

Housing Department launches accessibility assessment
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
The logo of the Urban Institute

Urban Institute

Trauma-Informed Housing
Read My Story
HUD Logo

HUD Channel

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

Urbanland

Affordability and Accessibility: From Bad to Worse in a Tight U.S. Housing Market
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
The sign above the entrance way of Silicon Valley Bank

Affordable Housing Finance

Silicon Valley Bank’s Fall Hits Affordable Housing
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
The logo for "Affordable Housing Finance"

Affordable Housing Finance

Silicon Valley Bank’s Fall Hits Affordable Housing
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
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.
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
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

Read My Story
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
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
The exterior of The Kelsey Civic Center

SF Yimby

Demolition Permits Filed For Kelsey Civic Center in the Civic Center, San Francisco
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
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

Read My Story
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”
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
San Francisco City Hall

Curbed - San Francisco

Affordable homes for disabled residents might go up right next to SF City Hall
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
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
Read My Story
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
Read My Story

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
Read My Story
A white middle aged woman with brown hair is smiling and seated in front of a brick wall with her hands in her pockets.

Caroline Bas

COO
Read My Story
White queer person smling in their manual wheelchair with short brown hair, round glasses, earirings, and a blazer.

Allie Cannington

Director of Advocacy and Organizing
Read My Story
Fatimah Aure, a dark-skinned woman with dark hair wearing a shirt with a decorative neckline is pictured.

Fatimah Aure

Director of Field and Capacity Building
Read My Story