Library : Housing Sector Studies & Research - Disability

Able Authorities? The Disability Discrimination Act, disabled people and local authorities in Enlgand - DCLG, July 2006 This report sets out findings and learning points from research examining how well local authorities in England are performing in terms of addressing disability issues in relation to their core activities. It offers learning points based on the case study work undertaken for the research, which local authorities could consider as they develop strategies and policies to meet the disability equality duty.
Housing and disabled children - JRF, June 2008 This piece of research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation provides an overview of what is currently known about the housing circumstances of disabled children and their families.
Implementing Decent Homes Standards: How housing associations are addressing accessibility (JRF 2006) This is an investigation of how six social landlords with major refurbishment programmes addressed accessibility issues. The Decent Homes Standards set social housing providers government targets on a range of issues. The standards (to be achieved by 2010) do not specifically include any requirements about the accessibility of properties. Whilst the government is half-way through its programme there remains £21 billion of work yet to be carried out. This research looks at whether there has been a missed opportunity in terms of improving accessibility and whether there is any evidence that accessibility has actually been made worse by the works that have been carried out. A set of 13 access issues are looked at within case studies to assess the extent to which accessibility has been achieved.