According to new research, more disabled people live in local authority or housing association properties than anywhere else and half of these don’t have the adaptations to make their homes suitable. Added to this are all the elderly who are becoming increasingly frail and in need of the right at-home support. So why is it that so many landlords have no coherent strategy for adaptations and how will they react to legislative change afoot with the Social Care White Paper, the current re-evaluation of the Physical Adaptations Grant for providers in Wales and a recent review of the Disabled Facilities Grant when adaptations are often such low priority?  

Benjamin Franklin once observed that “out of adversity comes opportunity”. There is certainly a hope that a new focus on housing adaptations to improve the day-to-day lives of disabled living may prove an opportunity. But new research by accessible housing associations, Habinteg and Anchor, with DFG agency, Foundations, has shown that although the majority of disabled people are tenants in housing associations, half of them do not have the adaptations that they require.  

The reasons for this may be two-fold. Firstly, there is often an unwillingness for landlords to make adaptations to their general stock (due to the inconvenience and work involved in making adaptations and then restoring the property afterwards) and the second may be the difficulty in accessing funding – normally via the local authority Disabled Facilities Grant where an elderly or disabled person may apply personally for a DFG but the process is tortuous. Despite this, 22% of all grants approved are from Housing Association tenants.

New Guidance Brings the DFG Up-To-Date

It does appear that every local authority has a different approach to managing the adaptations issue and the DFG process is a good example of this, as there is no cohesive, cross-country wisdom. Best practice is often only shared by the individual initiatives of healthcare professionals themselves. 

Indeed, the new research found ‘splits in legal responsibility, a confusing pattern of funding, a postcode lottery in the type of services provided and complex customer journeys’. 

Many others also feel that at 30 years old, the DFG has been out-of-date with timescales which vary regionally and often take more than a year to process in some areas. A third of applicants drop out, probably because it’s so clunky and lacks the timeliness necessary for the elderly or the terminally ill. 

Nic Bungay, Director of Housing & Assets at Habinteg says that these long waits really matter. “Every day lived in a home without the right access features is a day that a disabled person is limited by their environment and prevented from going about their life with the ease and comfort that non-disabled people take for granted”.

The current review of the DFG has brought about new guidelines for best practice, but it will be a further wait to see if the maximum limit is raised, the assessment of evaluations methods is updated and means testing is given a fresh approach as it is a major contributor in delays during the application process. Not to mention giving more financial discretion to the local authority to provide solutions that work.  Let’s not hold our breath though that these reforms will be any time soon as only in January, the High Court announced that the Government’s National Disability Strategy, introduced with 100 pledges to improve the day-to-day life of those with a disability, was unlawful on the grounds that there was an insufficient and poorly directed consultation. The Government has a right to appeal but it does encourage us to consider whether the rights of the disabled are being sufficiently addressed in this caring society.

However, there is a Landlord DFG Application route that has been in existence since 1990 but it’s little known and few landlords use it as 79% of private landlords didn’t know the DFG existed. It is a route that is now being promoted in the new DFG guidelines to try and expediate the adaptations take-up in the rented sector. A key advantage is that, unlike an application made by a tenant, landlord applications don’t require means testing, immediately simplifying the process. Although an application that is managed by the landlord could have a number of benefits, such as a central point of contact and applying the grant in a manner that suits the landlord’s particular requirements or standards, it would still necessitate additional work on the landlord’s part which may not be welcome.  Indeed, some associations adopt a blanket ban on adaptations in general needs’ stock across the board. 

“When small adaptations and alterations such as grab rails and ramps, are insufficient, it all changes” says Phillip Mumford, Managing Director of inclusive design specialists, Cowan Architects. “You enter the realms of lengthy funding requirements, structural planning applications and unsettling disturbances in the house. And in rental properties, there’s the added difficulty of persuading landlords to invest over and above the minimum in their property with the right adaptations so they don’t immediately feel the need to rip it all out at the changeover of the tenant”. 

Jane Ashcroft CBE, Chief Executive of Anchor Housing Association notes that while “supply does not always meet demand, it is crucial that, as well as developing new homes which are future-proofed for changing needs, we focus on adapting existing homes.”

Helping Landlords to Provide More

“Instead of offering the minimum, wouldn’t it be great if landlords found it easy to offer a lot more?” asks Lewis Gopsill, who is Operations Director for the WashPod range of modular, temporary disabled wetrooms. “Increasingly, there are a few useful disabled adaptations that don’t require extensive reworking of a property and if more new builds were designed for lifelong accessibility, there would be less change required in later life” says Lewis. “Until then, providing solutions that help both landlord and tenant must be welcome”.

Equipment and innovations that don’t require extensive adaptation are so much more appealing to landlords who wish to keep their properties attractive for future tenants. For example, the range of WashPod temporary disabled wetrooms, which are robust enough for hoists but ‘pop-up’ in a day, was the result of an unlikely collaboration between accessible architects and modular specialists. More examples of this type of lateral thinking will lead to a new set of answers. 

Specific advice for Housing Associations to improve the situation include setting the threshold for minor adaptations at a minimum of £1,000 to prevent long waiting times and cover the rising cost of work, ensuring routine housing reviews include future housing needs – whether it involves adaptations or moving and having a named officer to lead on adaptation cases.

Bed-blocking Continues to Cost

Growing waiting lists and bed blocking are also back in the news. Current figures from the NHS highlight that more than 10% of hospital beds are occupied by people who have been declared fit for discharge but who are unable to go home because they need community equipment or a home adaptation. This equates to 12,500 NHS beds stock at a daily cost of more than £6 million.

With this huge waiting list, there will be increasing pressures on landlords to step up to the plate to provide the adaptations necessary to keep their tenants in their homes and the wise ones will try and get ahead of the game with an adaptations strategy that accommodates this growing need.  

Going back to Franklin’s words, we must find new collaborative ways of implementing a system that works in a timely manner, while giving housing providers and users the range of equipment that adapts to their needs, budgets and timescales.  This year will see the new DFG guidance go some way towards improving processes but we still await key results from the DFG consultation, a rewrite of the National Disability Strategy and hopefully some real solutions that help landlords meet their disability requirements. Let’s hope that some of these improvements continue to help OTs provide some speedy answers that give those in need a future of independent living at home.