‘Shocking’ failure of election candidates asked about accessible housing

Politicians attending an election disability hustings event showed a “shocking and disappointing” lack of knowledge and commitment to addressing the accessible housing crisis, when they were asked about the issue.

None of the major parties have engaged within their manifestos with the critical shortage of accessible housing, despite several parties issuing significant house-building pledges.

Representatives of Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party were asked about the issue at the hustings event in Richmond, south-west London, on Monday.

But none of the four appeared to recognise the scale of the problem, while two of the quartet misled the audience – and those watching online – about their party’s policies.

The hustings was organised by the disabled people’s organisation Ruils Independent Living, and covered the two constituencies within Richmond borough, focusing on issues around education, health, social care and housing.

Those taking part were Jonathan Hulley, who is standing for the Conservatives in Twickenham; Munira Wilson, for the Liberal Democrats, who was elected as the MP for Twickenham in 2019; and Chas Warlow, the Green candidate in Richmond Park.

Labour did not send either of its Richmond candidates, instead offering the local campaigns coordinator for Twickenham Labour, Philip Moshi.

Towards the end of the hustings, Svetlana Kotova, director of campaigns and justice for Inclusion London, told the panel that all the parties were pledging to build more homes.

But she pointed out that the Conservative government had failed to fulfil its promise to raise standards so that all new homes had to reach a higher standard of accessibility.

Only last month, a committee of MPs concluded that the shortage of accessible housing in England posed a “clear and direct risk” to disabled people across the country, with many of them living in unsuitable accommodation for years “without hope”.

The committee was highly critical of the government for failing to implement its “headline” policy to address the shortage of accessible housing: increasing the minimum accessibility level of all new-build homes to the M4(2) standard*.

This would mean nearly all new homes would need step-free access to all entrance-level rooms, as well as facilities and other features to make the homes more easily adaptable over time.

But it is now almost two years since the policy was first announced, and almost four years since it was first consulted on.

And there was no mention of accessible housing in the Conservative manifesto.

Despite these delays, Hulley, the Conservative candidate in Twickenham, told the audience that the new regulations had already been introduced.

He said: “It is frustrating to me to hear what you have said, and it is also frustrating it has taken longer than I would like to see these new rules and this new legislation on the statute book, but it is here now, underpinned by rules and regulations, enforceable by the social housing regulator.

“If housing associations fall short on accessible requirements we must hold them to account. That is what I will do as your MP.”

But Hulley, a social housing lawyer, later clarified his comments to Disability News Service, and said he had “confused” the call for stricter accessible housing standards with new social housing regulations that were introduced by the government in April.

He said he would “like to see the next government mandate M4(2)”.

He accepted that this commitment was not included in the Conservative manifesto, but he claimed the party was “committed to bringing in M4(2)” and that it was “just a question of finding the time to get it done”.

Moshi, speaking for Labour, which also ignored accessible housing in its manifesto, said: “We will always ensure that a significant proportion of housing was accessible, was disability accessible.

“What is the point … this is the social model of disability? Why would you build a house that is not disability accessible? We would not do it.”

Warlow, the Green candidate in Richmond Park, said only: “Universal design is the basic principle so that you are always going to have accessible housing. That’s it.”

On accessible housing, the Green Party’s manifesto promised only to “champion the right to… housing under the principles of universal design”.

Wilson did not address the issue of new national accessible housing standards, an issue which her party also ignored in its manifesto.

Instead, she focused on London, where at least 10 per cent of housing already has to be suitable for wheelchair-users* through the London Plan.

She said: “That needs to be enforced and also we have got to hold developers to account.”

She added: “I had somebody in my surgery who bought an accessible flat with accompanying parking space, but the developers sold the space to somebody else further up the building who wasn’t disabled.”

Wilson said there was “no planning enforcement mechanism” to deal with such situations, and she suggested that the law needed to be strengthened to address that.

After the hustings, Kotova said it was “disappointing and shocking to see how little political parties know and care about accessible housing”.

She said: “For far too long there has been a game of passing the buck from national to local decision-makers, instead of everyone working jointly to ensure new homes are good for everyone.

“It is shocking that with the ageing population and with so many disabled people living in unsuitable homes, the current government failed to set accessibility standards for new-built homes.

“Next month it will be two years since they promised to do this.

“Whoever forms our new government needs to take an urgent action on this, and all elected politicians, from MPs to councillors, need to ensure new accessible homes are being built.”

*Homes built to the M4(2) standard have 16 accessible or adaptable features, similar to the Lifetime Homes standard developed in the early 1990s, to make homes more easily adaptable for lifetime use, while M4(3) homes are those that are supposed to be fully wheelchair-accessible

Picture: A Wyatt Homes property in Dorset

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