Inclusion Europe report on issues people with intellectual disabilities face in access to housing, and on ideas and practices to overcome these issues.
Housing means to have shelter and to have a home of your own. It is more than a roof over your head. It is having a place to live that feels like home because you can be who you are and live the way you see fit. It is the foundation of personal freedom. It gives people a safe space from which they can go into the world, and to which they can return. It’s the foundation of independent life and inclusion in the community.
Read the report in full:
Report on housing
In Europe, very few adults with intellectual disabilities live in their own place.
For people with intellectual disabilities, making use of their right to adequate housing can be very hard and, in some cases, impossible.
Issues in access to housing
Our report looks into some issues affecting people with intellectual disabilities’ access to housing:
- Segregation
- Deprivation of legal capacity and lack of supported decision making
- Financial challenges
- Family responsibilities beyond the norm
- Housing exclusion
- Urban planning
- Registration and administrative aspects
Examples
The report offers some examples from different countries solving problems in access to housing for people with intellectual disabilities:
- Peer housing or supported housing
- Financial support
- Partnership with social housing and private landlords
- Separating housing services and support
- Social housing
- Public developers of housing
- Supported-decision making
- Accessible information on housing
Recommendations
To counter the barriers people with intellectual disabilities face in access to housing:
- Count everyone
- Registration for (social) housing
- Build new homes
- Provide realistic budgets for housing and support
- Minimum accessibility requirements for current and future housing
- (Peer) supported housing
- Make information accessible to all
Read the report in full:
“People with intellectual disabilities have the right to housing, just like everyone else. I want to live in a world where these rights are respected.”
Soufiane El Amrani, self-advocate, Accessibility expert of Inclusion Europe
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