Accessible housing must be applied for
A national campaign has been launched calling for more social housing for people with disabilities.
Launched by the Irish Wheelchair Association, Think Ahead, Think Housing 2023 encourages people living with disabilities to think about their housing to needs and apply to their local authority for housing for the future.
According to Margaret O'Connor, Services Manager with Irish Wheelchair Association Cork, which is based in Bandon, there is very little wheelchair liveable housing available through private rental or local authorities in Ireland.
She said: “We are campaigning for change, but disabled people need to apply to their local authority for social housing in order to be included in local authorities' new housing development plans, which will take a number of years to be completed.
“The Government’s national housing strategy, Housing for All, aims to increase the supply of social housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade through €4 billion in state funding per year.
“Disabled people cannot be included in these plans if they do not apply,” she added.
In Ireland, over 1,300 young and middle-aged people with physical disabilities are forced to live in nursing homes for older people due to lack of accessible housing.
“This cannot be the future and there is a lot of work to do locally and nationally for our housing campaign,” said Ms O’Connor.
Before 2021, it was not possible for a disabled person in Ireland to specifically include their accessibility requirements on their social housing application form.
Irish Wheelchair Association is now calling on people with disabilities who want a home of their own to contact their local authority for the new social housing application form.
The organisation is also encouraging people with disabilities to complete the HMD-Form 1 Disability and/or Medical Information Form in order to apply for priority status on the social housing waiting list.
Ms O’Connor continued: “In my experience, many disabled young people or parents of young adults with disabilities are not even aware that they can apply for social housing. They know that accessible rental accommodation doesn’t exist in Ireland and they just don’t know where to go from there.
“It is a daunting task to apply for social housing but once you start the process you will find there are supports there to help you and if you are eligible for social housing at least know you have some plans in place to start building a future.”
To start an application contact your local authority or visit iwa.ie/thinkhousing.