What people with a learning disability need from a housing strategy

Lack of access to truly affordable housing that meets people’s needs is a huge and only growing issue for families up and down the country, and clearly a priority that the government, through major planning reforms, and its forthcoming housing strategy, intends to address with urgency.

For people with a learning disability housing can occupy a place of even greater importance than for most. We know there are thousands of people with a learning disability living with older family carers, with minimal social services engagement or planning with those families for future housing and care needs. This is leading to crisis situations when family carers become too old or ill to continue giving the essential support to their loved one, and placement of working age people with a learning disability in residential care, and other settings that are not best placed to meet their needs.

A new generation of people with a learning disability are coming into adulthood, many having rightly attended mainstream schools, who are taking part in education and training and want, like their peers, to work and make their way in life as independent adults, but who may also have support needs. They and their families will struggle with finding appropriate housing and support unless we take action.

And, there are hundreds of people with a learning disability languishing, detained in mental health hospitals because the specialised supported housing needed for them in the community (and social care support) isn’t there. They don’t need to be in hospital, but they are stuck there in part because of a lack of appropriate housing.

Everyone should be able to access housing that is accessible, meets their needs, supports their engagement and participation in the community, and is safe, affordable and provides security and stability to build life upon.

For the housing that will be needed in future by people with a learning disability, we are relying on housing providers to raise further private finance, given the historically low levels of capital that have been available from public sources. In the new housing strategy, we need to see government working with local authorities and housing providers to plan the investment needed for future supported housing needs amongst people with a learning disability. The housing needed will not just appear.

We also need to see the rent standard amended, so that new funding can be unlocked for specialist supported housing. There also needs to be better use of the Disabled Facilities Grant to pay for adaptations needed within specialist housing for people with complex needs.

And for general needs housing, we need to see expansion of shared ownership schemes such as HOLD - Home Ownership for People with Long-Term Disabilities.

At a local level, councils need to know and have a strategy to deliver on the likely future housing need of people with a learning disability in their areas. There are many touch points, such as the creation of Education, Health and Care Plans process, GP Learning Disability Registers, and care and support provided both under the Children and Families Act and Care Act that all provide information on future likely housing needs.

We have an important opportunity ahead of us with the housing strategy, and people with a learning disability and disabled people more broadly need to be at the heart of efforts within that strategy to support the housing sector with additional investment and funding reforms to develop the range of housing needed, from specialist supported housing through to general needs housing.

Failure to grasp this challenge will see more people with a learning disability left without housing options for the future, experiencing homelessness, or languishing in hospitals, and a new generation of young people unable to realise their aspirations to be part of society and make their way in life.