Housing Crisis For Disabled People Set To Deepen

More than two-thirds of all new homes to be built in England over the next decade will not be fully accessible for disabled people, new research has found. Analysis by Habinteg Housing Association shows the proportion of new homes to be built by 2030 to accessible standards has fallen from 34.4% in 2019 to 31.5%. There are 14.1 million disabled people in the UK, as well as rapidly ageing population. Yet just 9% of English homes currently provide the most basic accessibility features. Read more on the ITV website.

https://www.itv.com/news/2021-01-15/housing-crisis-for-disabled-people-set-to-deepen-report-finds

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/ 

Universal Credit Migration Could Be ‘Disastrous’ For Disabled People

The Work and Pensions Committee has claimed 100,000 families with children deemed “less disabled” will receive less money under Universal Credit than through tax credits. It said ministers’ promises to ensure “severely disabled” people will get more benefits under Universal Credit than the old welfare system will come at a cost to those not deemed severely disabled. The committee also raised concerns that the removal of disability premiums “risks disabled people living more isolated lives, relying on unpaid care – including from their own, dependent children – or simply being unable to complete certain basic daily tasks”. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/universal-credit-migration-could-be-disastrous-for-disabled-people-warn-mps-59560?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Disabled People In Housing Crisis

Disabled people have been left frustrated and trapped by a chronic shortage of suitable housing, as unnecessary bureaucracy and insufficient support leave them trapped in unsuitable homes, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has warned. The results of an eighteen month formal legal inquiry call for governments to take urgent action to make all new houses adaptable and accessible, as 365,000 disabled people say their home is not suitable for their needs. ‘Housing and disabled people: Britain’s hidden crisis’ calls on governments to produce a national strategy to ensure there is an adequate supply of houses built to inclusive design standards and for a review of the way that building standards are enforced. Read more on the EHRC website.

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/our-work/news/disabled-people-housing-crisis

EHRC Makes Final Call For Evidence In Disabled Housing Inquiry

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has made a final call for evidence for its inquiry into housing for disabled people. The independent statutory body is carrying out the inquiry to discover whether current housing for disabled people is sufficient, and is soliciting evidence from disabled people as well as housing providers and staff working for housing providers. Questions cover the number of homes provided specifically for disabled people as well as asking those responding to the survey – whether they represent them officially or not – to rate their organisation’s ability to deal with the requirements of disabled people. Read more on Inside Housing.

Minister Admits Disabled People Are Wrongly Refused Benefits

A Tory minister has been forced to repeatedly admit that some disabled people are being wrongly refused access to vital disability benefits, adding further weight to accusations that cuts have left the welfare system unfit for purpose. On three occasions, Penny Mordaunt, the disabilities minister, was forced to defend the Government’s treatment of people with disabilities, after opposition MPs cited a number of examples of their constituents being messed around by the Tory welfare system. MPs from across the House rose to speak about how disabled people in their constituencies were struggling to claim the support they desperately need. Read more on Welfare Weekly.

Families And Disabled People 'Hit Worse By Rising Homelessness'

Families and disabled people have been disproportionately hit by increasing homelessness. John Healey, the shadow housing minister, said that while homelessness generally had gone up 41% since 2010, people who might expect extra care from the government were doing even worse. Healey based his claim on figures from the CLG showing that from 2010 to 2016 the overall number of households accepted as being homeless by local authorities in England went up from 42,390 to almost 60,000. But the increase was disproportionately high for homeless households classed as vulnerable through mental illness, where homelessness went up 53%, and for those classed as vulnerable through physical disability, where it rose 49%. Read more on the Guardian website.

Chronic Lack Of Accessible Housing Prompts Inquiry

A major new inquiry will investigate the chronic lack of accessible and adaptable housing available for disabled people in Britain. Following research which found that approximately 1.8 million disabled people require suitable housing and approximately 300,000 do not have the adaptations they need in their existing homes, the Equality and Human Right Commission will investigate the provision of accessible and adaptable housing, and the effect it has on disabled people’s right to live independently. The terms of reference for the inquiry have been published today, while calls for evidence will begin in early January. The inquiry will report in early 2018. Read more on the EHRC website.

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.

Tory And SNP MPs Demand Benefit Cut Debate

Some Conservative MPs are to join the SNP in demanding a debate on postponing disability benefit cuts. They will jointly call for a debate on plans to cut Employment and Support Allowance payments for sick and disabled people by £29 a week. One MP said there could be an attempt to force the government to concede at next year's Budget. The DWP said savings would be reinvested in a new package of support. Ministers announced draft plans for extra support for people affected by the cut - known as the work-related activity group - but worried Conservatives say they will not be content unless staff and funding is promised to help sick and disabled people. Read more on the BBC website.

Government Spends £100,000 On Lawyers To Defend The Bedroom Tax

The DWP has spent over £100,000 on lawyers fighting a court battle to save its controversial “bedroom tax” policy. Ministers were told that the under-occupancy charge – which mainly affects disabled people – was “unlawful” and “discriminatory” by the Court of Appeal in January. The Government had been taken to court by the parents of a severely disabled child, who were forced to pay the charge on a room slept in by overnight carers and used to store specially adapted equipment. Around £50,000 of taxpayers’ cash was spent fighting the vulnerable people’s claims. Now new figures disclosed by ministers show £52,299 extra has already been spent on legal costs. Read more on the Independent website.

Increase In Disabled People On Waiting Lists

The number of disabled people on council housing waiting lists has increased by 17.3% in the last five years, research by charity Leonard Cheshire Disability has revealed. The charity found that one in seven people – 13.7% – on housing waiting lists in England are disabled, up from one in 11 people – 9.2% – five years ago. In contrast, the charity found that the number of people on waiting lists overall has decreased by 21% in the same period. Many councils in recent years have taken advantage of flexibilities in the Localism Act to restrict waiting list eligibility. Read more on the Leonard Cheshire website.

Labour Attempts To Water Down Pay To Stay

Labour MPs have tabled a series of amendments to proposed legislation in an attempt to water down the government’s Pay to Stay policy.  Shadow ministers are attempting to alter the government’s plans to force higher-income social housing tenants to pay up to market rent. Under the proposed policy, tenants with a household income of £30,000 or more (£40,000 in London) would pay higher rents. Labour is seeking exemptions for people aged 65 years or older, carers, those in receipt of care, disabled people, people on zero-hours contracts, people on housing benefit and those with seasonal contracts of employment.  This follows concern that the £30,000 threshold is too low and will lead to some housing benefit claimants having to pay more rent. Read more on Inside Housing.

Housing Crisis Has 'Devastating' Impact On Disabled People, Warns Charity

A charity has highlighted the "devastating" impact that the housing crisis is having on disabled people in England, with some being forced to choose between struggling in an unsuitable property or racking up huge debts attempting to adapt it. Muscular Dystrophy UK, which compiled the report, said there is an alarming lack of accessible housing in many parts of the country. It found that some councils in England have more than 100 households waiting for wheelchair-accessible homes. The charity said that a lack of wheelchair-accessible housing is having a "devastating impact on households". Read more on the Express & Star website.

Worklessness and Social Housing: A Look behind the Numbers

Out-of-work people living in social housing are too often referred to as one big group with the same enduring stigma. Around half (52%) of working-age people who live in social housing are not working, compared to just 29% in private tenures. The sector undeniably houses a significant proportion of unemployed and economically inactive people. Unsurprisingly it also provides the important function of sheltering society’s most vulnerable people, for example disabled people and single parents. In many circumstances, worklessness is largely the result of these disadvantages. A key point to understand is that only 10% of this population can actually be classified as unemployed. A much larger group of 40% is economically inactive. So what’s the story behind these 40% economically inactive social renters who haven’t been looking for work? Read more on the Guardian website.

New Benefit Cap Means Workless Private Renters Now Banned From 92% of UK

A reduction in the benefit cap was a centre piece of the Tory manifesto in the run-up to May's election. Even as some other 'commitments' were downgraded the reduction in the cap from £26,000 per year to £23,000 is to be pushed through in the first year of parliament. For most claimants only housing benefit - the one part that varies according to cost - will be affected. Working people, most pensioners and many disabled people are exempt, regardless of the level of benefits they receive and ignoring the idea of affordability. This measure is targeted directly at unemployed people, the lepers of the welfare world.  This targeting of housing benefit means the cap is likely to affect claimants' homes and choice of accommodation more than any other aspect of their lives.

Read more on the Huffington Post website.

The Long Wait for a Home — Councils Are Failing Disabled People

Leonard Cheshire Disability has published new research into the long wait that many disabled people face when they desperately need adaptations to their homes. The report, The Long Wait for a Home, reveals that, shockingly, these delays are the result of breaches in the law by local councils. Last year, two councils in three (62%) failed to pay for agreed adaptations at least once within the one-year time limit set out in the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996. Download a copy of the report from the Leonard Cheshire Disability website.

Housing: Disability – Parliamentary Written Answer

Paul Flynn:  To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the conclusions of the Local Government Ombudsman's report entitled No Place Like Home, on the numbers of disabled people on housing waiting lists.

Brandon Lewis: No Place Like Home is about the use of bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless families. Homelessness figures for July to September 2014 show a 38% decrease in the numbers of families with children in bed and breakfast for longer than six weeks, when compared to the same quarter in 2013. This shows that Government’s action on this issue is working. We would not expect the report to have an impact on the numbers of disabled people on housing waiting lists. The statutory reasonable preference categories ensure that people who need to move on medical or welfare grounds, including grounds relating to a disability, are given appropriate priority on social housing waiting lists. [Edit]

Homeless People with Disabilities Await Legal Ruling on Housing Applications

Homeless disabled people are increasingly being turned away by cash-strapped councils as officials find reasons to avoid treating them as a priority, according to lawyers mounting a potentially landmark legal challenge. This week the Supreme Court will consider decisions by local authorities to deny housing to a man with learning difficulties and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), another with mental and physical health problems and a drug addict who has been homeless since 2005. Read more on the Independent website.

300,000 Disabled People Waiting For Housing Living In Unsuitable Homes

About 300,000 disabled people are stuck on housing waiting lists across the UK, forced to make do in accommodation that does not meet their needs, according to a report.  In No Place Like Home  Leonard Cheshire Disability accused the government and housing developers of failing disabled people. The charity wants the government to make housing developers build all new homes so they are easy to adapt (so-called “lifetime homes”) if a resident was to become disabled, and for 10% of large developments to be fully wheelchair accessible so that disabled people can live independently and pursue job opportunities across the country. Download the report from the Leonard Cheshire Disability website.