General Election 2017: Housing
Trailblazer Emma Vogelmann has spinal muscular atrophy Type 2 and is interning with Muscular Dystrophy UK’s Campaigns Team. In a series of blog posts ahead of the General Election, Emma will be looking at where the parties stand on some of the key issues facing young disabled people. In her first post, she starts with Housing.
We recently saw the launch of the Party Manifestos for the General Election on June 8th. With the election less than a week away it is important to know what each party is saying about issues that people with muscle-wasting conditions care about. This is the first in a series of blogs looking at the party’s plans on key issues on which Trailblazers are campaigning.
All three parties agree that more housing is sorely needed but where do they stand on creating wheelchair accessible houses? In September 2015 MDUK published a report (Here) which showed that families are falling into serious financial hardship after exhausting their savings to fund vital housing adaptations. Due to a lack of available housing and long waiting lists, many individuals with muscle-wasting conditions are unable to move home and can wait years before they get the support they need. The report called for the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and local authorities to act immediately to increase the building of accessible properties.
Here is what the parties are saying on the issue in their manifestos:
Conservatives –
Deliver a million homes by the end of 2020 and deliver half a million more by the end of 2022
Review disabled people’s access and amend regulations if necessary to improve disabled access to licensed premises, parking and housing
Work with providers of everyday essential services, like energy and telecoms, to reduce the extra costs that disability can incur
Labour –
By the end of the next Parliament they will be building at least 100,000 council and housing association homes a year for genuinely affordable rent or sale
Remove government restrictions that stop councils building homes and begin the biggest council building programme for at least 30 years
Liberal Democrats –
New direct spending on housebuilding to help build 300,000 homes a year by 2022
Work with utility providers like energy and telecoms, to reduce the extra costs that disability can incur
All three major parties make plans to build more houses. Muscular Dystrophy UK will work hard to ensure that at least ten percent of new homes are built to ‘lifetime home standards’, to make sure they are more easily adaptable for disabled people. http://www.musculardystrophyuk.org/your-stories/general-election-2017-housing/