Britain’s disabled face hidden housing crisis

A British charity has warned that disabled people in the UK are experiencing a hidden housing crisis, as five million Britons are in need of disabled-friendly homes.

The Leonard Cheshire Disability charity made the warning in a report published on Saturday.

The charity conducted a survey that showed almost three-quarters of Britons with mobility problems do not have an accessible door into their building.

In addition, according to the survey, more than half of the disabled say their buildings do not have doors and hallways wide enough for a wheelchair.

“Not adapting homes condemns people to the misery of Victorian strip washes and ultimately possibly to leaving their homes and incurring massive care costs, when they would prefer to live independently,” said Clare Pelham, the charity’s chief executive.

The report called for all new homes in the UK to be built according to “Lifetime Homes Standards,” with wider doors and walls strong enough to take grab-rails.

In addition, the charity called for a commitment from all British political parties that any new urban planning, such as garden cities, are built with disabled-friendly housing, as the number of people in need of such homes is set to rise as the population ages.

The report comes after a recent study by Habinteg and South Bank University that said there was an unmet housing need for wheelchair users of almost 80,000 homes across England.

The number of the disabled people in Britain has risen over the past decade from 10.1 million in 2003 to 12.2 million last year. Among the disabled are some 1.2 million wheelchair users across Britain and the number is expected to rise.