HomeEase

Accessible Housing Made Simple

HomeEase is a housing marketplace that helps people with support needs find accessible homes confidently.

Tools

Figma, FigJam, Adobe Illustrator

Role

UX Researcher, UX Strategist, Product Designer

Project Type

Accessibility + Housing + UX

Background

This case study documents the end-to-end design of HomeEase, from research and problem definition to mid- and high-fidelity MVP designs.

It highlights how research insights translated into flows, wireframes, a focused MVP, and a scalable design system.

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Illustration by Paige Vickers

The Reality Behind “Accessible”

Millions of Americans struggle to find homes that genuinely meet their accessibility requirements.

  • Fewer than 6% of U.S. homes are accessible.

  • Over 900,000 NYC residents identify as having a disability.

  • Many reported that “accessible” listings frequently don’t match reality, leading to embarrassment, wasted time, or unsafe conditions.

Most existing platforms treat accessibility as an afterthought: a single checkbox, vague wording, or no verification.

Project Goal

Design an experience that reduces the emotional and logistical burden of verifying accessibility by making housing searches more transparent, personalized, and empowering.

Understanding the Lived Experience

To understand how individuals with accessibility needs and their caregivers navigate the housing search today, identify key barriers, and design a more inclusive, transparent, and empowering housing search experience.

User Interviews

  • 5 individuals with mobility, sensory, or cognitive disabilities

  • 3 caregivers supporting family members

  • 1 accessibility advocate working with local organizations

Competitive Analysis

Synthesis and Design

To benchmark how existing housing and travel platforms address accessibility.

  • Zillow

  • Apartments.com

  • Redfin

  • Airbnb

  • Affinity clustering of 120+ observations to reveal recurring emotional and logistical pain points

  • Stakeholder mapping to define relationships among users, caregivers, realtors, and advocates

  • Journey mapping to identify friction

What We Heard

Across interviews, three consistent pain points emerged:

Accessibility misunderstandings cause embarrassment or frustration during outings.

Mistrust of others to plan accessible outings.

Inaccessible public spaces despite ADA claims

Designing for the Adaptive Home Seeker

From behavioral patterns, I identified four types:

Including people actively searching for homes, caregivers assisting loved ones, and advocates working to improve accessibility awareness. I chose to focus on the Adaptive Home Seeker - motivated, independent, and experienced, but fatigued by the constant need to verify accessibility.

Meet Mary

A retired artist who uses a wheelchair after cancer treatment.

Mary’s Journey Map

Mary’s emotional journey showed a clear progression:

Turning Insight into Direction

My research pointed toward four major opportunities:

Verified Accessibility Information

Trustworthy checklists, photos, and measurements help remove uncertainty.

Personalized Filters

Accessibility varies: mobility, sensory, cognitive.
Users need filters that reflect their real requirements.

Community Feedback Loop

People trust lived experiences from others with similar needs.

Home modification suggestions

Users want help understanding modifications or usability before a visit.

Introducing HomeEase

HomeEase helps users:

HomeEase is a housing discovery platform built for people with support needs.

It combines:

  • Verified accessibility listings

  • Personalized accessibility filters

  • Modification guidance powered by AI

  • Connections to accessibility-trained realtors

  • Clearly see whether a home fits their needs

  • Compare verified accessibility information

  • Understand modification possibilities

  • Save and share options with caregivers or professionals

  • Make confident decisions based on truth, not assumptions

Defining the MVP

The MVP focuses on one core moment:


Evaluating accessibility recommendations within a listing.

To support this moment, I also designed:

  • An onboarding flow to capture accessibility needs

  • A basic homepage and listing navigation flow

This ensures recommendations are personalized from the start.

The Core Experience

HomeEase simplifies the process through a clear, 5-step flow:

Primary flow:

  1. Onboarding: select accessibility needs

  2. Browse listings filtered by needs

  3. Open a listing

  4. Review verified accessibility + AI recommendations

  5. Save, share, or contact a realtor

Validating the Structure

Mid-fidelity wireframes focused on:

  • Information hierarchy

  • Reducing cognitive load

  • Making accessibility scannable

  • These screens validated structure before visual design.

Refining the Experience

High-fidelity designs refined:

  • Accessibility indicators

  • Trust and clarity

  • Calm, professional visual language

Designing Beyond Labels

This project emphasized that accessibility is not binary.
Clear, honest information builds trust more than labels.

If expanded, future work could include:

  • Cost estimates for modifications

  • Community verification

  • Partnerships with accessibility inspectors

HomeEase demonstrates how focused MVP design can address complex accessibility challenges.

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