The housing careers of people with a disability and carers of people with a disability

Abstract

This research found that housing careers of persons with a disability are flatter and more restricted than those of the population overall. Most of those with a psychiatric disability rented their houses, though some groups (e.g. those with mobility impairment) were outright home-owners and others (e.g. those with sensory disability) had a history of owner occupation, and had fallen out of ownership. Where people with a disability rented, it was often from the government. Although rent and mortgage payments tend to be on average lower for households with a disability compared to those without a disability, affordability problems are more acute – over 40 per cent of tenants pay over 30 per cent of their income in housing costs. The housing type was also sometimes not appropriate to the needs of those with disabilities. For example, 19 per cent of respondents with a mobility impairment believed that their home did not meet their needs well or at all. Carers were often home owners, but many renting carers were formerly owners and fell out of home-ownership because of relationship breakdown. The housing careers of carers and persons with a disability alike are changing in these first years of the 21st century. This change is due to a number of factors: shifts in the ways support services are provided, impediments to movement through the housing market, reduced access to home purchase and trends in the incidence of disability.