Most homes are inflexible, unsuitable for people with mobility issues, and hard to adapt. And as our population ages, this becomes a problem for more and more people.
Today there are over a million more households headed by someone over the age of 65 than there were in 2010. However, less than one in ten houses have the necessary features that make them suitable for people in wheelchairs or with mobility issues.
A crucial part of this is flexibility is supporting people to install the aids and adaptations they need, from level access walk-in showers to grab rails and even stair lifts. Part of this is about increasing the range of products available to consumers and ensuring these are attractive and desirable features that people want in their homes, rather than the clinical, stigmatising products that currently exist.
As co-chairs of the Housing Made for Everyone (HoME) coalition – a group of ten charities and housing organisations – we've been campaigning for a change to building regulations that would make homes accessible and adaptable as standard.
