Younger disabled people left waiting years for an accessible home in East Suffolk | Latest news

Disabled people in East Suffolk in need of accessible social housing aged 54 and under are waiting twice as long as those who are older.

Wheelchair users aged 18 to 54 have waited an average of 20.5 months, for an accessible council home over the past five years. Meanwhile, those aged 55 and over had an average waiting time of 10.6 months, over the same period, according to data from East Suffolk Council.

This data was collected from East Suffolk Council via a freedom of information (FOI) request by local campaigners in July 2026.

The East Suffolk Local Plan contains no planning target for new wheelchair accessible housing. The East of England region is formed of 45 local authorities of which 25, including East Suffolk, has no policy for these homes in their Local Plan, according to Habinteg’s third forecast for accessible homes, published in 2025.

A local disabled person, 30, who has asked to remain anonymous, has been waiting for an accessible home since January 2025. She said: “My home has become increasingly unsafe for me as it’s too small to use my wheelchair inside.

Strips away independence 

“When I fall, I’m often unable to get back up on my own. I have to drag myself across the floor to my living room because my sofa is the only the piece of furniture low enough to pull myself up. It’s painful, exhausting and strips away my independence.”

She added that many wheelchair accessible homes she’s seen available for social rent are either restricted to people aged 55 and over or have age preferences for those aged 65 and over.

“While I understand the need for specialist housing for older people, these age restrictions create significant barriers for younger disabled people who have a genuine need for accessible housing,” she said.

“Wheelchair users need fully wheelchair accessible homes. Where I live, nearly all general needs bungalows and ground floor flats are old, so tiny and built in a way they can’t be adapted on a small budget, such as the Disabled Facilities Grant, which only covers £30,000.”

Currently, there are 40 households on the council housing register in East Suffolk who are full-time wheelchair users and in need of a home suitable for indoor and outdoor wheelchair use, according to the same FOI.

Long waiting lists

Yet only 10 fully wheelchair accessible homes have become available to let over the past five years. At this rate, the last person to join the list may be waiting 20 years to have their requirements met, even if they were the correct age. And in 2025, no wheelchair accessible homes were allocated to housing register applicants aged 54 and under.

Responding to the claim that they are restricting certain age groups being allocated accessible housing, East Suffolk Council stated: “Wheelchair adapted properties are not typically restricted by age, unless they form part of a designated sheltered scheme, are subject to a local lettings policy or a Section 106 [planning] agreement.

“Some social housing landlords may have age restrictions on some properties and if so, these will be clearly shown on the Gateway to Homechoice choice-based lettings scheme.”

East Suffolk Council is working on a new Local Plan, which is set to be adopted in April 2029 and has two public consultations planned in 2027 and 2028.

According to the response to the FOI, East Suffolk has no data on the number of fully wheelchair accessible homes it owns or manages.

Campaigning for change

Margaret Oldham MBE, Chair of Waveney Disability Forum, said: “We’ve been campaigning for years to get more homes built in the Waveney District, North East Suffolk, with accessible features, such as wider doorways and flush thresholds, but not much has changed.

“Waveney has around 30% of households that include a disabled person and we have a high proportion of older people.

“We’ve responded to the new East Suffolk Local Plan asking for all new homes be built to higher accessibility standards.”

Habinteg’s Executive Director of Influencing and Communications, Christina McGill, said:

“Wheelchair accessible homes enable disabled people to live independently and safely, improve health and wellbeing, and increase the likelihood of a person gaining or staying in employment. So, with so much unmet demand, it’s worrying that East Suffolk has no current planning requirement for wheelchair accessible housing. Its new plan provides a great opportunity for the inclusion of a planning target for wheelchair user homes across all tenures, as well as better data collection for these types of homes.

“We urge local people to respond to future phases of consultation about the Local Plan to highlight the need for more wheelchair accessible housing or to email their concerns to planningpolicy@eastsuffolk.gov.uk.

“Purpose-built wheelchair user homes are needed in all areas of the country and need to be available to anyone who requires one, whatever their age.”