A man in a black wheelchair, in front of an audience. He has a microphone in his right hand and his holding up to his mouth. He is speaking to the audience in front of him. He is wearing a white shirt and black trousers, which held up by black braces. He is in full focus and the audience are blurred in the foreground.

Housing

Monday 19 October 2020, 7pm - 8pm

Next Spring, the government will publish its National Disability Strategy. The Conservative Party pledged to create a strategy in its 2019 Election Manifesto.

We want to make sure that the government hears the voices of disabled people, including those they don’t normally hear from. Our autumn programme of roundtable events are your opportunity to have your say on a range of issues. We will be collating what you tell us into a submission to government, as well as to influence our work as the UK’s leading national disabled persons’ user-led organisation.

The UK has a severe shortage of accessible or adaptable housing stock, and that shortage is predicted to only get worse. The government’s response to the more general housing shortage has been a pledge to relax building standards for new homes, and to make it easier to convert exist buildings such as office blocks. While standards exist, such as having 10% of all new build homes be fully accessible (and even more to be easily adaptable), these standards are entirely voluntary.

This roundtable event aims to produce a list of three to five priorities to push the government on regarding the accessibility housing.