Nov 062020
Fleur Perry is asking people to complete this important consultation. We know far too many people live in properties that aren’t accessible often without suitable bathing facilities or even in properties they are unable to get out of.
Build an Accessible Future – Yes, You!
There’s currently an accessible housing consultation, asking what needs to happen to make sure there will be enough accessible housing built. We need you to reply, and tell them why you think it’s important.
Have you found it difficult to find your first home? Have you found it difficult to move? Have you had to wait for years and put your dreams on hold? Has your inaccessible home had an effect on your physical or mental health? What else do the government need to know about accessible housing?
Here’s the link which you need to copy and paste: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/raising-accessibility-standards-for-new-homes
Or you can email us at mail@dpac.uk.net and we will pass information onto Fleur to add your view into her response, named or anonymous, whatever works for you.
Fleur, like many of us, remembers finding out about the shortage of accessible housing the hard way. She needed to find a house without steps, and it was like looking for a needle in Loch Ness. Eventually, she found somewhere, but many are still searching, or waiting on council lists hundreds long with no end in sight.
Research shows that 1.8 million disabled people have an unmet accessible housing need.
[Papworth Trust, Habinteg and London School of Economics, 2016, available at:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/website-archive/newsAndMedia/newsArchives/2016/07/1.8-million-disabledpeople-struggling-to-find-accessible-housing.aspx]
Research also shows that the majority of councils aren’t doing anything to end the shortage of accessible housing, despite having a legal duty to have due regard to the needs of disabled people (Public Sector Equality Duty, Equality Act 2010).
[Habinteg Housing Association, 2019, A forecast for accessible homes, available at:
https://www.habinteg.org.uk/latest-news/housing-plans-risk-accessible-homes-crisis-for-england-saysnew-research-1285 ]
We need to make it clear that accessible housing is needed as standard. Also life time homes standards do not mean that a property is wheelchair accessible so there needs to be many more fully wheelchair accessible properties built urgently.
There are 5 options in the consultation. The only one that guarantees action will be taken to increase the supply of wheelchair accessible housing is Option 4. If you agree that this is important, please reply to the consultation.
If you disagree with me but prefer any option that isn’t do nothing, please also reply to the consultation.
We can solve this problem and make sure that all disabled people have somewhere safe to call home.
Is there a deadline for doing this?
December 1st
This is an ENGLAND only consultation
Link not working for housing consult
you need to copy and paste it.