House to 2040 – Scottish Improved Accessible Housing Strategy.
A new Housing Standard, setting out the path for how Scotland’s homes and communities should look in 2040, has been published in March 2021.This new document has been included in a major national housing strategy and it should establish a single set of quality and accessibility standards, no matter whether a home is owned or rented.
According to the Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell, the new standard aims to cover all homes – new and existing – with no margins of tolerance for sub-standard accommodation.
A research made by the Government shows that 61,000 people in Scotland need adaptations to their home; only one per cent of the existing houses can adequately accommodate wheelchair users; and around 10,000 disabled Scots are currently waiting for an accessible house.
The report also shows that by 2040, the population aged 75 or over is expected to be 730,000. “This will put much greater demand on housing and health and social care services to help people to live independently at home and our response must match the scale of the challenge,” it said.
The Scottish Government will work with local authorities, registered social landlords, private landlords and communities to implement improvements to the quality of all homes in order to provide good quality accommodation for everyone, regardless of whether they own it or rent it from a private or social landlord.
The focus is to increase the supply of accessible and adapted homes in order to improve the range of choice, particularly for younger disabled people who currently face a significant lack of options. Help will also be provided to older and disabled home owners who want to move to a home that better meets their needs.
The Scottish Government is working to publish a draft Standard in 2023, introduce the new legislation in 2024-25 and start the introduction of the new standards between 2025 – 2030.
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Alternatively, if you need further information on how to make facilities or services more accessible and inclusive, please do not hesitate to contact one of our team on (01) 415 12 85 or e-mail [email protected].
