Habinteg presents evidence to DLUHC’s Disabled People in the Housing Sector inquiry
Earlier this month, Habinteg contributed evidence to the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee’s ongoing inquiry into Disabled People in the Housing Sector.
Christina McGill, our Director of Social Impact and External Affair, presented insights and recommendations to the cross-party committee.
In October 2023, Habinteg responded to the Parliamentary Select Committee of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities inquiry into Disabled People in the Housing Sector on behalf of the HoME Coalition.
Impact of Accessible Housing
During the session on 5 February 2024, Christina addressed questions regarding the impact of accessible housing on the health and wellbeing on disabled people, the barriers to people getting access to accessible housing, what local planning authorities should be doing more of and where the best place to be managing the information on accessible housing would be.
Christina said: "In terms of the barriers, they fall into three main areas. The first is supply and do we have enough accessible hosuing in this country. We have the oldest housing stock in Europe. There's around 9% of homes that offer even the most minmum combination of accessibility features. So, we need to really improve the quality of new homes to help to resolve that situation.
"The second thing would be findability. So, where the supply actually is, having better systems to enable people to access what they need, and find out about it, where they are a social housing tenant or private tenant.
"So the actual job of searching for an accessible home is extremely long and painstaking for most people who need one. The third point that would probably be around affordability. Being disabled costs a lot more than being a non disabled person and so the affordability factor."
Personal stories
Christina also highlighted several personal stories of Habinteg tenants, including that of a tenant she spoke to last year.
“He spoke about the incredible difference that it made to him to be able to use the bathroom by himself, instead of having to have someone help him… and of the enormous positive impact that had had on his wellbeing,” she said.
Christina emphasised the importance of inclusive design and accessibility in housing citing research from our collaboration with the London School of Economics and Political Science into the Living not existing: the social and economic value of wheelchair user homes , our Roadmap for Accessible Housing and our Forecast for Accessible Homes 2020 report.
Key Recommendations
Based on the evidence presented, Habinteg submitted four key recommendations to the inquiry:
1. Implement the planned new regulatory baseline for accessible homes and ensure that all Local Authorities enforce the requirements to build to the M4(2) standard.
2. Revise the National Planning Policy Framework to explicitly require all local plans to include a specific policy and target for new wheelchair accessible (M4(3) homes, and where no local target is set to require 10% of new homes to meet the standard.
3. Require the Planning Inspectorate to reject any local plan that omits a policy statement and target for M4(3) homes.
4. Ensure that Homes England prioritises funding for developments that provide new wheelchair accessible homes across a range of house types and tenures.
Christina gave evidence alongside Mikey Erhardt, a representative from our HoME coalition partner, Disability Rights UK, and Jacquel Runnalls from the Royal College of Occupational Therapist (and Centre for Accessible Environments’ Associate Consultant)
View the full recording of the inquiry at https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/4f857c64-1fbf-49ea-9534-677301ea97cd.
If you’re interested in campaigning with Habinteg and sharing your experience of accessible and inaccessible housing, please join our Insight Group .
