As my family and I were not eligible for the DFG, we paid for the adaptations ourselves, to the tune of around £24,000, by taking out a bank loan. Had we been able to buy a wheelchair-user home from the outset we could have avoided the stress and cost of major adaptations, as it would have met my access requirements as well as those of future generations of disabled households.
People I know have had to relocate miles away from their community and support network just to get a home that meets only some of their accessibility requirements. Can we justify doing this to disabled people?
The government’s revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) does nothing to improve the outlook for wheelchair users because it doesn’t require each local plan to set any target for M4(3) wheelchair-user homes. Instead, it leaves local authorities to decide on the proportion of accessible and adaptable homes (M4(2) in Building Regulations) and M4(3) homes to be built, with a minimum of 40% combined delivery.
“Ultimately, the absence of policy specifically on wheelchair-user homes in local plans risks a growing shortfall in such properties over time as demand increases”
According to Habinteg’s forecast, 103 out of 311 local plans have no requirement for wheelchair-user homes as it stands, and the new proposal does nothing to change this.
Ultimately, the absence of policy specifically on wheelchair-user homes in local plans risks a growing shortfall in such properties over time as demand increases.
This is why Habinteg is calling for the NPPF to stipulate that every local plan must identify a minimum requirement for new homes to meet wheelchair-user standards, with 10% as the starting point.
Such an approach has shown to be successful in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The borough has almost halved its waiting list for new wheelchair-user council homes by ensuring 10% of new social homes built over the past five years are wheelchair accessible.
The council says this doesn’t just benefit local tenants, it’s also more efficient than carrying out expensive adaptations to existing buildings to modify them for wheelchair use. Its website cites figures from other local authorities indicating that the savings could be as much as £1m per 80 homes.
It’s critical that national and local government appreciate these benefits. Without forward-thinking policies on wheelchair-user housing, we will cause ever more costly damage to the life chances and well-being of disabled people like me.
Luis Canto E Castro, insight group member, Habinteg
