The Challenge
Scotland’s housing market faces many challenges. A recent Scottish Executive analysis summarised these as: affordable housing, homelessness, geographical disparities in supply, and the need for a diversity of tenures.
Scotland faces an additional challenge – our ageing society. By 2025 it is estimated that there will be a 39 per cent rise in those aged 60-74 and a 75 per cent rise in those aged over 75.
Public expectations about the future are for greater independence – a poll in 2006 indicated that 87 per cent of the public want to be able to live in their own homes (with support) rather than be placed in residential care.
Currently, there are 62,000 households where someone will be unable to wash because they require an adapted bathroom, and a further 20,000 where someone requires, but does not have, a stairlift or lift.
These material problems are exacerbated by the inflexibility of social care services and the tendency to provide only ‘life and limb’ support.
Scotland’s housing stock is also in poor repair – an estimated £10 billion in renovations is required.
Homelessness continues to affect too many Scottish families, with over 5,000 households registered as homeless in 2005.
Added to these challenges is the pressure of ensuring that Scottish citizens are afforded real choice about where, with whom, and in what type of home they live – one that doesn’t just meet their physical accommodation needs but enables them to thrive and prosper.
For people who are disabled in Scotland, finding decent affordable housing presents a real challenge.
While two-thirds of Scots own their own homes, disabled people are half as likely as non-disabled people to do so and are more likely to be accommodated in social rented housing.
Whilst Scotland’s poor health record is improving, one “certainty” identified by the Executive is that “the Scottish population in 20 years time will live longer and be older, experience much higher levels of chronic disease, particularly those conditions associated with old age… and place greater demands on health and, especially, social services”. These changes will also impact significantly on the demand for, and supply of, housing to meet the needs of such a changed society.
Projections prepared for the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) suggest that the proportion of people in the population who are disabled in Scotland will rise from 19 per cent in 2006 to around 23 per cent by 2025.
Disabled people are twice as likely as non-disabled people to have lost their house at some stage in their life, placing them at greater risk of homelessness than others.
Homelessness correlates with poor physical and mental health, poverty and unemployment (in 2000, almost half of rough sleepers in Glasgow were assessed as having a “neurotic disorder”). These factors can be both a cause and a consequence of homelessness.
However, recorded homelessness figures mask many whose current housing arrangements are either unsuitable or unsustainable. The Scottish Household Survey suggested that disabled people in Scotland, and particularly those with mental health problems, were almost twice as likely as non-disabled people to have lost their homes at some point in their lives. Whether through the pressures of poor health, a lack of suitable adapted housing, temporary institutionalisation, or living with relatives or friends, the true number of disabled homeless people is unclear.
People affected by disability are also more likely than other citizens to be living in poorly-maintained accommodation – nine out of ten families with a disabled child could identify at least one problem with their current accommodation.
The ‘Scottish Housing Conditions Survey’ detailed significant issues of fuel poverty and insulation (88 per cent of homes failed to meet current energy standards), dampness (affecting 17 per cent of Scotland’s houses) and neglect. Private and rural housing were particularly likely to be in poor repair.
Disabled people are far less likely to be able to exercise choice –currently, there are only sufficient houses for one in ten ambulant disabled people and only one in five wheelchair users lives in a home that meets their needs.
Whilst many ambulant disabled people may not need fully accessible housing, they will require aids and adaptations to assist them to maintain their dignity and autonomy. In 2004, Audit Scotland reported that the provision of equipment, aids and adaptations, which could help disabled people to either stay in their own home or occupy another was “fragmented” and “the split in responsibilities (for providing it) unhelpful and confusing…”
Issues of land availability have a critical impact on the Scottish housing market, resulting in taller buildings. Whilst maximising and usage, strategies of this type are likely to fail disabled people unless adaptation of existing housing and new-builds are based on inclusive design principles. Currently, one-third of Scotland’s homes are flats. Without a major push on accessibility in tenements and the development of accessible new-builds, demand is likely to continue to outstrip supply for people with mobility impairments.
While many disabled people have difficulty finding a suitable home, let alone have a choice of housing, some Scottish social housing providers express frustration at the difficulty they face in finding disabled tenants for the accessible properties they let.
Similarly, those selling an adapted property often find the buyer does not need the adaptations and removes them.
These problems arise because few property letting or selling services provide disabled people with the information they require to make an informed choice. Few, if any, social housing providers can tell a prospective tenant whether a house they are applying for could be accessible for them, with or without adaptation.
Good housing for disabled people is about far more than adaptations and new-builds that conform to inclusive design principles. It requires a holistic approach, involving a range of service providers, depending on individual need.
Housing policy will need to support people’s overwhelming preference to stay in their own homes rather than move into residential care. This requires managing costs and benefits across current public service boundaries by, for example, matching investment in accessible housing needs with responsive health and social care support, by increasing employment and community participation, and by avoiding unnecessary hospital or nursing home costs.
The supply and efficient use of accessible housing, matched with appropriate support from public services, will be an ever more central challenge for housing policy.
This paper proposes policy solutions for improving housing in Scotland. It is part of a series offering the DRC’s proposals for a future public policy agenda.
Unlike other papers in the series, this paper is relevant to Scotland only. There is a companion Agenda paper on housing in England and Wales.
An alternative future?
The DRC believes that reform to the way we plan, design, maintain and allocate housing can better prepare Scotland for the future it faces and ensure dignity and decent homes for disabled people in Scotland.
The key objectives of an effective reform agenda are to:
- Reflect the housing aspirations and experiences of individuals and families affected by disability in national policy.
- Ensure Scotland’s housing market is fit for purpose to meet the demands of an ageing society.
- Prevent disabled people from being disproportionately forced into homelessness or insecure accommodation.
- Improve the overall standard of housing in Scotland, as a means of improving the life chances of citizens affected by disability.
- Afford disabled people the same degree of choice in their housing options as other citizens.
Recommendations for action
1. To reflect the housing aspirations and experiences of individuals and families affected by disability in national policy
The Scottish Executive should:
1.1 Commission research into the housing aspirations and experiences of disabled people in Scotland as a priority.
1.2 Ensure a clear methodology is developed for surveying the needs of households affected by impairment or poor health. Agreement on definitions of ‘accessibility’ (for example in tenemented properties) is also needed to inform the work of planners, providers and auditors in the housing field.
1.3 Critically evaluate policies aimed at increasing access to owner-occupation to assess their impact on disabled people.
Communities Scotland should:
1.4 Examine data on disabled people’s experiences of housing to assess gaps between households with and without disabled people. This includes experiences of disabled people as applicants and tenants of private or public tenancies, or as prospective buyers or owners of private housing.
National and local government should:
1.5 Undertake strategic disability equality impact assessments of housing policy, local housing plans and regeneration initiatives prior to implementation.
2. To ensure Scotland’s housing market is fit for purpose to meet the demands of an ageing society
The Scottish Executive should:
2.1 Analyse demographic trends to assess the extent of demand for supported and sheltered accommodation for Scotland’s ageing population, projecting forward to 2025.
2.2 Make funding available with private funders to create a new generation of truly accessible homes – both for private ownership and public rental.
2.3 Revise the Scottish housing quality standard and the Scottish Building Standards guidance on accessibility in the light of the Disability Equality Duty (DED) for its impact on households with disabled members, including in relation to the provision of lifetime homes.
Local government should:
2.4 Assess structural and local development plans and building programmes for their impact on disability equality regionally, and assess their construction to assure compliance with new accessibility standards.
3. To prevent disabled people from being disproportionately forced into homelessness or insecure accommodation
The Scottish Executive should:
3.1 Address homelessness as a cross-cutting issue, with multiple causes and effects. Without sufficient resourcing and joint planning in the NHS, social services and the voluntary sector, the needs of homeless disabled people may not be adequately met by the Executive, its agencies and partners.
4. To improve the overall standard of housing in Scotland, as a means of improving the life chances of citizens affected by disability
The Scottish Executive should:
4.1 Set targets for housing improvement and measure the extent to which disabled householders benefit proportionately from expenditure.
4.2 Review the approach to raising housing conditions set out in the Scottish housing policy statement, from the perspective of disabled public sector tenants and home owners.
4.3 Set new measures of quality to enable Communities Scotland to measure the extent to which an ‘accessible home’ is equally a suitable or fit-for-purpose home that meets the needs of Scotland’s ageing population.
4.4 Ring-fence the grant-aid funding of adaptations to houses in Scotland in line with the current ring-fencing of budgets for repairs.
Local government should:
4.5 Ensure regeneration strategies specifically address the shortfall of accessible housing in their plans. Such plans must demonstrate that they have been impact assessed and that their outcomes will be monitored and appraised against equality targets.
Standard-setting and good practice organisations should:
4.6 Embed the DED in standards and guidance, particularly in the Scottish Building Standards Association’s work
5. To afford disabled people the same degree of choice in their housing options as non-disabled people
The Scottish Executive should:
5.1 Include in its Single Survey, which is expected to be mandatory for house sales from 2008, a parallel provision for access audits of all socially rented housing, mirroring those proposed for vendors.
5.2 Remove stamp duty for those disabled people purchasing a property that will require substantial alteration to meet their needs, in order to offset the additional cost of adaptation.
The Royal College of Chartered Surveyors should:
5.3 Work with the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) to produce guidance for estate agents on identifying access features in properties for sale.
Measuring change
In order to drive change, it will be important that the major measures of progress adequately account for disabled people. This includes:
1. Tracking whether disabled people’s housing aspirations are reflected in housing policy, the Scottish Executive, with housing authorities, should develop better baseline data on the housing needs of disabled people, across different tenure and impairment groups, and monitor the extent to which those needs are met. The Executive should report regularly on progress under the DED.
2. Tracking whether the housing market is becoming fit for purpose for the ageing population, the Scottish Minister, in partnership with audit and inspection bodies, researchers and commissioners should:
- track changes in the ratio between supply and demand for accessible or adapted housing
- develop a new standard assessment of accessible homes as a first stage towards developing a Scottish adapted housing register
- encourage social providers to share information on the supply of differing types of accessible housing between themselves, and for prospective tenants, through live and open databases
- ensure that the Scottish Executive’s ‘Single Survey’, which is expected to be mandatory for house sales from 2008, includes an access audit highlighting the potential accessibility of the property. The same access audit approach should be required of all socially-rented houses advertised for let and this approach should also be encouraged from those letting property privately.
3. Government and inspectorates should track levels of both ‘rooflessness’ and hidden homelessness experienced by disabled people, broken down by broad impairment groups where needed, including the high levels of homelessness amongst people with mental health problems. To achieve this, the executive should undertake a review of the methodology for measuring homelessness to accurately reflect the level of hidden homelessness experienced by disabled people in different impairment groups.
4. To track improvements in the standard of housing the Scottish Executive should assess whether increases are occurring each year in housing that meet the criteria set out in the lifetime homes standards or an extended and statutory ‘housing for varying needs’ criteria.
5. To assess levels of choice of housing tenure, government should monitor and report on the proportion of disabled people in owner-occupation, as compared to other citizens.
6. Public bodies and government should report regularly on progress under the DED. Reporting should also be broken down by other personal characteristics, such as gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, and age.
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