Ministers Sat On Accessible Housing Research For Up To Four Years

Ministers delayed publishing a report that called for more research into the benefits of accessible housing for up to four years. The report, by architectural firm PRP, was finally published last week by the MHCLG, but none of the research and evidence referenced in the document is dated later than March 2016. Payments for the research appear to have been made as long ago as April 2016, and PRP said this week that it was finalised in 2017. The report examined evidence on the benefits of accessible housing, and the effectiveness of guidance relating to other buildings to see how well it was meeting the needs of disabled people. Read more on Disability News Service.

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/ministers-sat-on-accessible-housing-research-for-up-to-four-years/ 

Planning White Paper Ignores Accessible Housing

The government has been accused of “showing contempt” for disabled people after publishing an “utterly shameful” 84-page white paper on the future of the planning system without including a single mention of disabled people, disability or accessible housing. The Planning for the Future document makes repeated references to the need for “beautiful new homes”, “beautiful places” and “beautiful buildings”, while ignoring the accessible housing crisis. There is also no mention of wheelchair-users in the white paper, which looks only at England, even though successive Tory ministers have been repeatedly warned of the dire shortage of suitable wheelchair-accessible housing. Read more on the Disability News Service website.

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/governments-contempt-for-disabled-people-as-planning-white-paper-ignores-accessible-housing/ 

Supreme Court’s Rulings Mean Bedroom Tax ‘Will Still Unfairly Hit Thousands’

The government’s “bedroom tax” discriminates unlawfully against some disabled people who need an extra bedroom because of their impairment, but not against others, the Supreme Court has ruled. The Supreme Court ruled that ministers’ decision to apply the bedroom tax to disabled people who need an extra bedroom for a clear medical reason, and to families who need an additional bedroom for a disabled child who requires overnight care, was unlawful discrimination. But other disabled people who need an extra bedroom for impairment-related reasons lost their battle against having to pay the bedroom tax, after the court ruled in favour of the DWP. Read more on the Disability News Service website.