People with disabilities

This page is about homelessness among people with disabilities, and the rights of disabled people when they are homeless. Although some data is available about the prevalence of disabilities amongst homeless people, it can be difficult to get an accurate picture due to high rates of under-reporting. However, the sector must routinely address disability as part of its wider assessment of clients’ needs to ensure these are being met through appropriate services.

key issues

Homeless Link’s Survey of Needs and Provision (SNAP) 2010 survey revealed that more than half of homelessness projects across England see clients who experience some sort of disability. Disability can cover a range of conditions including:

• learning difficulties
• mental health problems
• mobility
• sensory impairment
• developmental disability

It is likely that some homeless clients have an undiagnosed or unregistered disability. Learning difficulties are particularly under-reported and not always formally recognised or recorded by some professionals or commonly used assessment tools.

Policy Context

The 1996 Housing Act states ‘a homeless person will have a priority need for re-housing if s/he is vulnerable as a result of mental illness or learning disability (mental handicap) or physical disability’. In practice this is not always the case and even when they are accepted, disabled people do not always get temporary or permanent housing that meets their needs.

The main legislation dealing with the rights of disabled people are the Disability Discrimination Acts of 1995 and 2005. This legislation promotes civil rights for disabled people and protects disabled people from discrimination. The updated 2005 bill targets areas such as education, employment, access to goods, services and facilities and buying or renting property.

As part of the 2006 Welfare Reform Green Paper the government committed to devolve more power to disabled people, ensuring that they receive support ‘in a way that promotes independence, control and personal responsibility. This includes developing the use of individual budgets to help disabled people have more control over their care. The paper also outlined new steps to assess unemployed people on the basis of what they are able to do, not their incapacity. Although the reform states that ‘the most severely disabled people or others with full-time caring responsibilities would not be required to look for work’, other claimants which might include those using homelessness services, will be required to take steps toward training and employment if they are deemed fit to undertake some types of work. Read more from the DWP or our Wefare Benefits page.

SOLUTIONS

Within the homelessness sector, not all organisations have facilities or services which are fully accessible which can make it difficult for disabled people to use homeless projects with ease. The homelessness sector must respond to the needs of disabled clients and ensure it addresses any barriers which exist.

As a first step, homeless services should be aware of the support needs of people with a disability. Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, it is against the law for service providers to treat disabled people less favourably than other people for a reason related to their disability. Service providers have to make 'reasonable adjustments' to the way they deliver their services so that disabled people can use them.

It is important to provide information which is accessible to all clients, regardless of their ability, so they can make informed decisions about their support. For example, charities such MIND provide guidance about providing accessible information for those with learning difficulties.

Links and partnerships with specialist disability charities can help agencies be more aware of available services and they can be a useful source of good practice.

FURTHER INFORMATION

• For services catering for disabled people, please visit Homeless UK
• Housing Options run a housing advisory service for people with learning difficulties
• Advice is available at the DirectGov website on available help for adapting houses for the needs of disabled people, as well as information on supported housing, care homes and shelters
• For more information about mental health, please see our mental health briefing for futher information on this issue.