This new Habinteg report What price independent lives? Benefit cuts and disabled tenants paints a compelling picture of the impact of benefit cuts on disabled people’s rights and ability to live independent lives.
The report was published on 3 December to coincide with the United Nations Day of Disabled People which recognises the rights of disabled people as enshrined in UN treaties to which the UK is a signatory.
As a provider of inclusive housing Habinteg has sought to promote accessible homes within the mainstream to meet individual needs. The report examines the effect of benefit cuts on Habinteg tenants.
Key findings of the report
- Tenants in nearly 1 in 6 Habinteg properties are affected by the bedroom tax.
- 57 per cent of all Habinteg tenants affected by the bedroom tax receive Disability Living Allowance.
- Only 15 per cent of tenants who receive DLA but live in Habinteg’s general needs properties have been given exempt status by the local authority.
- In total, two-thirds of Habinteg disabled tenants are faced with higher rent due
- So far only 3 out of 13 tenants who asked for a transfer due to the bedroom tax were able to find one, and only one of these was a disabled tenant.
- The localisation of Council Tax Support is adding to a postcode lottery in benefits. Many Habinteg tenants who previously received Council Tax Benefit now must find between £1.70 and upwards of £5 a week towards Council Tax.
- Independent living is threatened by these cuts: if disabled people cannot afford rent and have much less choice of accessible smaller properties, they may face moving to institutional care.
- Independent living will be further threatened by new practice under Universal Credit which will stop reimbursement for the costs of servicing essential home adaptations.
The report concludes that cuts to the benefit system threaten the independent living of disabled tenants. Accessible housing is in very short supply and there are waiting lists in every area for wheelchair accessible housing in particular. Many people have to adapt inaccessible homes to make them safe and easier to live in independently. Sometimes adaptations can be very expensive and if a person is forced to move, they will lose these adaptations and the positive difference they can make and may be forced into institutional care. Such institutional care is likely to be far more expensive to provide than housing benefit on their former home.
These policies and benefit cuts also threaten disabled people’s human rights. Habinteg believes them to be inconsistent with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which the UK is a signatory. Article 19 of the Convention enshrines the right to independent living. By signing up to this, states recognise the equal right of disabled people to live in the community and ‘have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement’. Cuts to benefit levels and restrictions in eligibility are undermining these rights.
Habinteg calls on government to repeal the bedroom tax, particularly for disabled people. They also call for a rethink on service charges for disability-related adaptations. They oppose the cuts in disability benefits that will undermine the independence of disabled people. Independent living is a right — not a privilege.
You can download the report at http://www.habinteg.org.uk/main.cfm?type=WHATPRICEINDEPENDE