Disabled people in the housing sector – Report Summary

Summary

Disabled people undeniably encounter unnecessary and severe barriers to accessing suitable housing in England. Too often too many disabled people are failed by the Government’s current housing policy. It is intolerable that many disabled people are living in unsuitable accommodation for years without hope.

In 2018, the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that 1 in 5 disabled people in social housing live in unsuitable accommodation; and that just 7% of homes in England have the most basic accessibility features. In 2022, research by Habinteg Housing Association found that a wheelchair user joining a local authority waiting list may have to wait up to 47 years for a new build wheelchair-accessible home. With the number of disabled people in England rising each year, there is simply not enough accessible housing to meet the rising demand. This poses a clear and direct risk to the dignity, health, and wellbeing of disabled people across the country.

This Report is informed by over 1000 people who responded to our online survey or provided written evidence, including hundreds of personal accounts from disabled people. These cases demonstrate that far too often disabled people are wrongly treated as a homogeneous group — when they are in fact individuals with different needs, from different backgrounds, and each with their own housing story. Many of these accounts shone a light on the horrendous impact that living in inaccessible housing can have on a disabled person’s life. We were appalled to hear of multiple cases of disabled people being completely housebound over long periods of time due to the inaccessibility of their homes. We were also told of decades-long waiting lists for accessible social housing; significantly higher asking prices for accessible homes for sale; and cases of some landlords denying permission for home adaptations to make properties accessible.

Despite the cross-government effort to “ensure disability inclusion is a priority” in every government department’s work, we have found little evidence that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is treating disabled people’s needs as a priority in housing policy. For example, the Department has still not implemented its headline policy to address the shortage of accessible housing: increasing the minimum accessibility standard for all new build homes to the ‘M4(2)’ standard of building regulations. Almost two years since this policy was first announced — and almost four years since it was first consulted upon — disabled people are still waiting for this crucial policy change.

• It is imperative that the Government’s M4(2) policy commitment is now implemented as soon as possible. If this is not done, then thousands of disabled people will continue to be left with their housing needs unmet. Accordingly, the Building Safety Regulator should launch the required technical consultation immediately with an expedited timeline.

Many disabled people told us that there are not enough M4(3) standard homes, which are designed for wheelchair users. Just 1.9% of homes in England were planned to be built to wheelchair user standard in 2020. To increase the availability of accessible homes for wheelchair users, we recommend that:

• Local authorities must do more to consider the needs of disabled people when planning for housing in their local plans. The Government must require all local authorities to assess their local need for wheelchair accessible housing, as part of future changes to national planning policy. All local plans in England should include a minimum percentage of M4(3) standard homes.

As well as the lack of supply of new accessible homes, many disabled people told us of their struggle to adapt existing homes to be more accessible. Currently, disabled people may apply for a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) to fund adaptations to improve accessibility of their homes. However, evidence to our inquiry highlighted many shortcomings with the current DFG system, which ultimately leads many applicants to drop out entirely. We recommend that the Government should:

• review the £30,000 upper limit on individual DFGs, and set new regional upper limits which take account of inflation and construction costs;
• simplify the DFG means test, and ensure it does not disproportionately penalise working disabled people by introducing more gradual tapering of personal contributions; and
• expand DFG guidance and self-assessment tools, to improve public awareness of the DFG and to support applicants as they navigate the process.

The flaws of the DFG are compounded by the inconsistency of support to navigate the process in some local authorities, which was described to us as “pot luck” and “a minefield” for disabled people. We were also concerned to hear instances of some landlords refusing to grant permission for DFG adaptations to properties, despite existing legal protections which should prevent landlords from withholding consent. We recommend that:

• It is unacceptable that any landlords should refuse disabled tenants permission for reasonable accessibility adaptations. The new Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman must consider all complaints involving a landlord’s refusal to grant permission for accessibility adaptations, so that landlords are required to agree to all reasonable accessibility adaptations.

Overall, it is essential that the Government, local authorities, and the housing sector work together to prioritise disability inclusion and address the barriers that disabled people are currently facing. Moreover, as we have found consistently across several of our past inquiries:

• Ultimately, the key to tackling England’s housing crisis is to build more homes — including 90,000 new social rent homes per year, and more accessible homes.

We hope that our Report will motivate the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to be at the forefront of this effort, to ensure housing policy is more inclusive of disabled people now and in future.