#ForAccessibleHomes

We're for accessible homes, are you?

Every September, we run a week of action - Accessible Homes Week (AHW) – to celebrate what an accessible home can do for a person's wellbeing, independence and overall quality of life.

In 2026 our 11th Accessible Homes Week will run from 12-16 October.

This year, we'll be looking into attitudes to home adaptations and adaptable housing among the 'sandwich generation' - adults typically aged 45-70 who balance caring for ageing parents while often still supporting children and, for some people, juggling a job.

Most people will require a home adaptation at some point, whether temporarily due to illness or injury, or permanently as part of ageing or disability. Despite this, most homes are not designed to adapt easily, leading to higher costs, delayed interventions, increased caring pressures, and greater demand on health and social care services.

As the sandwich generation are making housing decisions now, have direct experience of unsuitable homes for caring, and are planning ahead while managing current responsibilities, they're uniquely well placed to provide valuable insights.

Adaptations shopping list

Our 2024 campaign illustrated some of the most tangible value to society of building to the M4(2) accessible and adaptable dwellings standard.

We compared the costs of installing grab rail, stairlift and wet room adaptations in different types of homes. Our findings showed that people living in an M4(1) visitable dwelling who may need to make such adaptations could be almost £27,000 worse off compared to those living in an M4(2) home.

Families and individuals could be forced to spend savings to privately fund essential adaptations, whilst Local Authorities would be picking up the bill for those who do not have savings through a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) or direct grants if the property is a council owned home.

This is one reason why Habinteg continues to urge the Government to make the M4(2) accessible and adaptable standard the baseline for all new homes in England, and to immediately hold the one short consultation with industry stakeholders on the implementation details to make it happen.

Homes for everyone

With just 12.6% of the housing stock in England having basic access features, we know that too many disabled and older people are living in unsuitable housing, which can impact on their ability to live independently.

This is why inclusive, accessible homes are a must for everyone – they allow us to use our homes throughout our whole lives, even when our needs change.

Here's how you can get involved in Accessible Homes Week and beyond

Sign up for email updates on our Accessible Homes Week
Follow us on Instagram , Facebook and LinkedIn , and share our posts.
Using your social channels, tell us how your accessible home has changed your life and tag us.
If you have an inaccessible or accessible home story you'd be happy for us to share on our channels, email us and let us know about it. Tell us what key feature or design about your current home could be better and how that would make a difference to your day to day life.
Use the hashtags #AccessibleHomesWeek, #ForAccessibleHomes, #AHW2026.
Read our research and the blog series below - and share them with your friends, family and social media network.

Bruce Moore: How long must we wait for a government to take a strategic view on housing?

Bruce Moore, CEO of Housing 21, which manages 24,000 retirement and care homes in England, urges the housing sector to challenge the government’s short-sighted decisions....

Inclusion London: It’s time to raise accessibility standards for all new homes

Inclusion London is urging the Government to raise accessibility standards, making M4(2) the minimum for new homes, with 10% meeting the M4(3) wheelchair standard....

Geraint Nutt: How Hounslow Council places liveability at the heart of its community

Geraint Nutt, Head of Partnerships and Supply at Hounslow, explains how developing grey-belt sites with partners can create affordable, accessible homes....

Charlie Burton: House builders must shift their mindset - accessibility shouldn’t be a bolt-on

Charlie Burton, 26, is a manual wheelchair user. He shares how a request for an accessible bathroom made buying his house more complicated than expected....

Benjamin James: Fighting to adapt your home to meet your needs

Benjamin James, 28, a Habinteg Insight Group campaigner and peer researcher shares his experience navigating the Disabled Facilities Grant process to adapt his home....

Teresa Snaith: Why we need to be building inclusive, not exclusive developments

Teresa Snaith of Lovell Later Living outlines why, looking forward to the next decade, the M4(2) and M4(3) standards need to go from the margins to the mainstream....

Work for us

Working at Habinteg

We believe that mutual commitment and shared responsibility is key. We are an equal opportunities employer and aim to be an employer of choice. Everything we do is underpinned by our four cultural values. We endeavour to be agile, accountable, ambitious and attentive.

We offer a comprehensive and person-centered employment package to our staff. This includes:

Flexible approach to working week including full-time, part-time and job-sharing possibilities.

Welcoming, accessible work environments including remote working

Training and development programme

Ethical pension scheme from the Pensions Trust -we match employee contributions up to 10%

Life assurance scheme

Free eye test & contribution towards glasses

Cycle scheme

Professional Subscription Payment – we will cover the cost of one professional membership subscription per year (e.g. Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) for Finance roles)

Company subscription to Simply Health & Rewards

Habinteg Day — an additional day of annual leave that colleagues can take at any point during the year.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader and welcome candidates with Badge showing that Habinteg is a disability confident leader. disabilities, long-term health conditions to apply for our roles. We encourage job-seekers from all backgrounds and experiences to express their interest, and to contact us at recruitment@habinteg.org.uk if you would like to chat to us or discuss reasonable adjustments for your application or interview process.

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