Every wheelchair user’s nightmare

ANY family with a wheelchair user knows just how incredibly hard it is to find suitable accommodation.

Steps, thresholds, narrow doorways, inaccessible bathrooms ... they’re a constant headache for those who just want to have what most people take for granted – the choice of where and how we live.

It wasn’t that long ago that architects were designing properties without a single thought given to the millions of people unable to walk.

And today, even with tougher laws that puts more pressure on builders to deliver on access, it’s still nowhere near enough to solving the housing nightmare faced by so many disabled families, say campaigners.

Habinteg housing association, who are leading the battle for more accessible homes, say apart from helping to solve the problem, building more tailor-made properties would save the public purse millions over a 10-year period.

Their latest research reveals the additional cost of building a home specifically for a wheelchair user – instead of just an accessible and adaptable home – for a typical disabled adult of working age is around £22,000.

But with the potential 10-year financial and social benefit to the individual and the public purse amounts to around £94,000.

Nick Apetroaie, Habinteg’s CEO, said: “This research reveals a clear and powerful economic case for wheelchair accessible homes that must not be ignored.

“Behind the numbers we must not forget that the shortage of wheelchair accessible properties has a profound negative impact on people’s daily lives.”

For a household with a child who is a wheelchair user, Habinteg says the extra cost of building a new wheelchair user home is around £26,000, but the economic and social benefit it brings adds up to around £66,0000 over 10 years.

For a typical older wheelchair user household, the financial and social benefit is around £101,000, with a new wheelchair user home costing around an additional £18,000. Mr Apetroaie added: “It’s not acceptable for society to expect wheelchair users and their families to “make do” in homes which limit their independence, dignity and overall life opportunities.

“We’re calling on the Government and relevant agencies to set a clear requirement for every local authority to create a robust plan for new wheelchair accessible homes.

“Without this we will be literally building inequality into housing stock, not only at great personal cost to individuals and households but also, in the medium to long term, to the public purse, too.”