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Report of SDEF Conference

9th July, Dunblane

�Including Us All�


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conference report

INCLUSION IN PRACTICE � HOUSING WORKSHOP

Julia Fitzpatrick - Ownership Options
Pat Bagot - Scottish Homes

Housing and inclusion of disabled people are topics that we could both talk about for days, but we only have an hour and a quarter.We would like to give you our perspective, or our organisation�s perspective, and then have time for questions and discussion.

Given that SDEF is looking to ensure that the voices of disabled people are heard, maybe at the workshop we should be thinking about what policy debate and campaigning needs to happen around housing issues for disabled people.

Ownership Options - Julia Fitzpatrick

Because this is the only workshop today on housing, I�m not going to say very much about ownership options as an organisation � rather I want to talk about the wider housing picture for disabled people in Scotland, inclusion and what needs to change if we or anyone else is going to achieve �inclusion in practice� and not just �inclusion� as yet another political buzz word that trips off the tongue but has no depth or intent.

WHAT IS OOIS?

charity and limited company

aims � create access to home ownership as a mainstream housing option for disabled people and pioneer approaches which demonstrate how financial, legal and technical barriers can be overcome

Activities � direct services � include SNCG, building capacity, mainstreaming systems

Core Values

������ All human life is of value

������ Anyone, whatever their impairment, is capable of exerting choices and should be enabled to do so.

������ People who are disabled by society�s reaction to physical, intellectual and sensory impairment have a right to assert control over their lives

������ Disabled people and their families should have equal access to the housing choices made by non disabled people� housing type, tenure, location and quality should not be determined by impairment.

������ Disabled people have a right to participate fully in society � people have a right to be in the mainstream.

������� Disabled people should have the right to support services and facilities to enable independent living.

We hold these values in common with a network of individuals and organisations concerned about housing and disability, including the Disabled Persons Housing Services, which come together under the umbrella of the Scottish Disability and Housing Network.

(lobbying and campaigning for equality of housing opportunity for disabled people � anyone interested in being an active part, leave contact details)

PERSON CENTRED WORKING

Listening to disabled people and the parents and families of disabled people speak about their experiences of services and about their hopes for change in the future is a chastening experience � but they don�t often get a chance to have their voice heard, really heard, in a forum of policy debate.�� Often people are simply overwhelmed at the scale of the bureaucracy which too often needs to be faced in order to achieve what should be so straightforward � the right house in the right place at the right time.Why is a disabled person approaching the people in serviceland for advice about their housing options still so often made to feel they are seeking an impossible dream?

Ownership Options can�t wave a magic wand and produce money and a house.But we can and do have the person or family lead the way with our support and advice.Our work starts from the person or the family building up a jigsaw of their needs, aspirations and resources.Most importantly inclusion in housing terms has to be about more than bricks and mortar.In my view our current systems � our allocations systems, our systems of capital funding support, and, still to a significant extent, our care or support funding systems - start from, and finish with, the bricks and mortar.They don�t take into account (to anything like the degree needed) the person or family�s social networks, financial situation, the family�s financial situation, their emotional needs, their fears and dreams about the future.To achieve inclusion in housing for disabled people, systems have to change fundamentally so that a person or family centred approach is at the heart of them.

CONTEXT� THINKING ACROSS TENURES

limited supply of housing for rent

supply of adaptable good sized council properties has diminished through the right to buy, and housing association development programmes are not replacing these in anything like sufficient numbers to meet needs.

But a lot of disabled people, or families with a disabled household member e.g. a child, are owners � and want to remain owners � or have or could raise some resources to contribute to funding a suitable property.So it seems to make sense that we should enable them to remain in owner occupation, and reduce the pressure on the scarce rented resources.But we have a tendency to make assumptions about people�s choices based on their current tenure or income � if someone is a tenant or on income support, or in residential care, or a person with a learning difficulty, it is assumed that they wouldn�t want to, or couldn�t afford, to buy.�� Lenders and social workers make judgements about what people choose to spend their money on or how they manage it.Many disabled people do not aspire to own their own home � because it has simply never occurred to them or anyone else that they could or should.

Until not very long ago and even now, an awful lot of disabled people live in hospitals, or nursing homes.We still have far too many people living in large residential care homes, and shared houses for 10 or more people, who are not at home; we have young Scots with learning difficulties sent to England or Wales because there is apparently no suitable housing and support in Scotland which can cater for their particular needs; we have a disproportionate number of Scottish disabled children in residential care in England � and parents often have to fight tooth and nail to obtain the care and support which would enable them to bring their children back to live in the family home.

We know of one person who, having achieved agreement to the necessary care for her 12 year old, has been refused any financial help with the cost of adapting her home on the grounds that the adaptation is needed for the carer not for her son.If the mum was not so determined her son would still be stuck eventually becoming like another client of ours, 28 years old living with 13 people in a residential care home but not a priority in terms of a Council�s allocation policy, because he�s not part of a reprovisioning programme.Some people who live with their families in an ordinary house, suddenly find themselves in a group home with people they have never met before because Mum or Dad can no longer look after them and no-one has the time or imagination to do better.I believe that our systems are institutionally �disablist� in the same way that large organisations are coming to accept they are institutionally racist.

Everyone has rights, and everyone should have the right to choose where or with whom they live.But over the years it has almost become a cultural norm that if you are disabled you just have to accept that your choices are more limited than a non disabled person and get on with it.But it�s very difficult to exercise rights and choices if we don�t know what they are.Services currently have systems into which people have to fit, and if they don�t fit, or don�t offer what you want or need, it can be hard to find the assistance or information you need to put all the different parts of the jigsaw together.And that�s where DPHSs and Ownership Options type services come to the fore.

Tenure breakdown

Scottish Homes published research on Scottish House Conditions in 1996.

It showed 124,000 people in Scotland with mobility problems � of whom 24,000 were in houses suitable for their needs.It showed 20,000 wheelchair users in Scotland, and only 5,000 houses suitable for wheelchair users of which only 2000 are actually occupied by wheelchair users.More recent figures suggest there are 116,000 people with mobility problems who are unsuitably housed and the shortfall of housing for wheelchair users is 35,000 rather than 15,000.

There is a massive shortfall of suitable housing for disabled people in any tenure � and we need another 15,000 houses suitable for wheelchair users.

And the tenure of the suitable housing that does exist,

89% of semi detached and detached houses are in the owner occupied sector, and for families these are often the house types that lend themselves to extension or adaptation.

Similarly the majority of the new house building that is going on � about 90% of it, is for the owner occupied market.If the government and local authorities are seriously looking at making best use of resources, helping people to stay in their communities and best value for things like adaptations, it has to demand that new developments incorporate housing designed not just to barrier free standards but a proportion of them need to be wheelchair user standard.

There are around 20,000 new homes completed in Scotland each year and of these less than 2,000 are for rent. So quite apart from the equality issues thrown up by the imbalance in representation of disabled people in home ownership (and the raft of reasons for that being the case), there is a pragmatic imperative in looking at making more imaginative use of the owner occupied sector.

What are the difficulties for a disabled person trying to buy a house?

It is too difficult to find the right house in the right place

It is too difficult to find the money to pay for the house, or to take out a loan,

It is too difficult to sort out the technical problems, and work out if or how to build or adapt a property,

It is too difficult to find a way round or through the legal maze, particularly for someone with a learning difficulty

It is too difficult or expensive to arrange for the care and support that will enable the person to live in their own home

And what all of statistics seem to suggest is that if the resources in the owner occupied sector are to be provided and accessed, we have to be quite clear about what the barriers are and we have to find catalysts and connectors to overcome them. And that has been the work we�ve been undertaking over the past 3 years.

HOUSING BILL/ACT

Possibly this week the Scottish Parliament�s biggest piece of new legislation, the Housing Bill receives royal assent.The Scottish Disability and Housing Network, and the organisations within it, lobbied hard for changes through the process and were remarkably successful.Achieving equal opportunities in housing is now an obligation upon local authorities; local authorities have to incorporate in their housing strategies an analysis of their adapted stock and an analysis of shortfalls in housing to meet identified needs; local authorities have new powers to make grants or loans to individuals, as well as to organisations, to enable the acquisition, construction, adaptation or improvement of property to meet the needs of a disabled person.This opens up opportunities for a much more flexible approach � but many LA�s will still need to be pushed to make use of the powers rather than seizing them as tools to enable inclusion and genuine housing choice.

Over the last twenty years there has been an exponential growth in Scotland in home ownership.By 2010 almost 70% of Scots will own their own home.So over the next twenty years, there will increasingly be households with property equity where previously that property equity was vested in the public or private rented sector.Strategies need to be developed which will enable people to use this equity to retain control and choice in their housing (quite apart from helping the public purse)

New housing strategies looking to address the needs of disabled people have to address issues of access to the owner occupied sector, because that is where the houses will be.�� And I�m not just talking about physical access issues, but also about issues of financial and social inclusion in a tenure which has a culturally valued status.

Stephen�s story

Stephen is 20 and is severely autistic.

Had lived away from home in residential college in England since age 14.

He and his family wanted him to be included � i.e. to live in an ordinary house in an ordinary street, near his family, near the sort of leisure activities he likes to do.

OOiS worked with Council and family � jigsaw of housing and care, huge savings on care for Council but need for a house type and location where LA or HA couldn�t provide.Direct payments for care, brother is team leader.Stephen has bought his own house using ISMI and Scottish Homes and Council have helped with grants via OOiS to make it financially viable.

Moral of the tale � it works if it is led by the person and the family, but only if the statutory organisations are willing to let go power and control of process and resources and to take and share risks.

Housing Workshop - Pat Bagot, Scottish Homes

Scottish Homes, soon to be a new Executive Agency, adopted a numberof policies designed to enable people with particular needs to lead lives as close as possible to those of other tenants and owners with a similar degree of choice, flexibility and control of their housing environment.

Barrier Free

We have pioneered the provision of barrier free housing in Scotland and have made it a condition of our grant funding since 1998.This has ensured that all developments where the site is suitable are fully accessible to disabled people.Not only can they move freely into and around their own homes but they can also visit other homes in the development.We welcomed recent changes to the Building Regulations which have made many of these features mandatory across all tenures.

Housing for Varying Needs

We have also produced, on behalf of the Scottish Executive, Housing for Varying Needs (part 1 and 2) which gives design guidance on developing housing for people with a variety of disabilities.Part 2 deals with shared housing with communal facilities.The designs focus on activity spaces rather than square metre sizes.This causes architects and developers problems and we are frequently asked for standard designs related to the costs which we will fund.We have resisted this but are now weakening.

SNAP

We currently spend about �7.2 million on funding housing support services.Housing support is aimed at assisting people to sustain tenancies and live in their own homes in the community.Most of this money is provided to RSLs (housing associations) to provide additional assistance to tenants, for example assistance with claiming benefits, getting repairs and adaptations done, reminding people to take medication or just chatting.In 2003 this fund will be replaced by Supporting People Grant.

SNCG

Julia will tell you more about this grant.Special Needs Capital Grant.SNCG is payable to developers, trusts and other bodies who are not eligible for HAG.It can be used either to provide rented or owner occupied housing.

Staying Put

Our policies are aimed at assisting people to stay in their own homes and out of residential care for as long as they wish to do so.We actively encourage RSLs to provide adaptations and alterations to assist people to stay put.Adaptations range from adding handrails to providing complete home dialysis rooms.Annually we spend about �2.5 million on this working in partnership with Occupational Therapists and Social Work Departments.We have recently published a Good Practice Guide with examples of joint working and joint protocols.We are determined to make this a demand led service instead of one which is budget driven.We cannot tolerate a situation where people are unable to use the bathing facilities in their homes for months while waiting to have a shower installed and being told that �nobody ever died of dirt!�

Care & Repair

Scottish Homes also provides revenue funding to Care & Repair.Care and Repair provides assistance to older owner occupier and disabled home owners to make repairs and adaptations to their homes.People use their own resources and Repair and Improvement Grants provided by the local authority to keep their homes fit for habitation and avoid moving.Scottish Homes provides about 50% of the revenue costs and the local authority the other 50%. This covers staff salaries, overheads and administration costs.The Scottish Executive also provides core funding for the central administration.It is the Scottish Executive�s aim to have a Care & Repair scheme in every Scottish Local Authority.

Housing Information and Advice

We cannot stress enough the need for people to have accurate accessible information and advice about, rights and obligations, services and how to reach them. Scottish Homes information and advice unit HomePoint has for over 5 years worked hard to produce a range of clear information for disabled people and their advisers.Access to Housing in Scotland for People with Disabilities has been a Scottish Homes� best seller updated and reprinted regularly.The Adviser�s Guide on Benefits and Personal Housing Planning for People with Disabilities have also been published and research commissioned on provision of housing information and advice services for people with visual impairment and older people.

We are convinced that accurate, independent information and advice is essential if people are to participate effectively in developing and improving our housing system in Scotland.Scottish Homes is committed to consulting with service users about all aspects of existing and planned services.This is often difficult with people with disabilities and from minority communities.I am not sure that we have got it right but we will continue to try.We can reach groups which represent service users and carers but I am not sure that we always get the views of the �service user in the street�.We welcome suggestions on how we can improve.

Only if we are successful can we truly put people with varying needs at the heart of policy and benefit from their skills, aspirations andexperience.We welcome your input.

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