Specialist and Supported Housing Needs Assessment

The intention of this assessment is to identify the housing needs of people with physical disabilities, many of whom will require accessible properties, some of whom will also have care/support needs, for example due to long term health conditions. This assessment of need covers estimated need for accessible housing, including for wheelchair users.

Contextual evidence from stakeholders

The evidence regarding the housing perspectives of people with a physical disability has been drawn from:

• A small sample of local residents.
• Local providers of supported housing such as Home Group, Anchor, JJH, Thirteen, Karbon, Riverside, Oasis Community Housing.

The majority of people with a physical disability would typically prefer to live in adapted mainstream housing with any care/support they require rather than in supported housing. There is a need for additional accessible housing, including fully wheelchair accessible housing, in Gateshead.

People are seeking properties that are a 'home for life' and enable them to live there as long as possible.

The majority of adaptations required for adults with physical disabilities are grab rails, ramps and level access showers.

People are also seeking improved access to aids and adaptations that enable them to stay in their current homes. For example, through a better understanding of and access to Disabled Facilities Grants.

People with physical disabilities are often seeking larger properties as they need space to store equipment and some people may need an extra bedroom for an overnight carer as well as level access requirements.

People with physical disabilities are seeking to live in areas with good access to shops, amenities and support services.

The evidence of need based on insights from Registered Provider indicates:

• There is an increase in tenants seeking aids and adaptations.
• There is an increased need for wheelchair adapted properties.

The evidence of need based on commissioner insights is:

• There is a need for additional bungalow accommodation to be developed as part of the mix of housing types on general needs housing development sites.
• There is an ongoing need for housing adapted to both M4(2) and M4(3) standards, however, there needs to be careful matching of people in need for fully wheelchair adapted homes. This reflects the current approach of the council which has an ongoing planning policy for 25% of homes on new housing developments over 15 dwellings to be built to M4(2) standards.

Estimate of need for accessible housing

The method for estimating the total number of wheelchair user households in Gateshead with an unmet need for accessible housing is based on methods derived from two complementary estimation models:

• The Horizon Housing model (Horizon Housing (2018): Still Minding the step? A new estimation of the housing needs of wheelchair users in Scotland; North Star Consulting and Research, CIH Scotland.), 'Still minding the step?' This is used to estimate the number of wheelchair user households that have an unmet housing need.
• The Habinteg Housing Association model; (Habinteg. Mind the Step: An estimation of housing need among wheelchair users in England.) this is used to estimate the number of wheelchair user households with an unmet need for either fully wheelchair adapted or accessible housing.

The method outlined in the Horizon Housing model draws upon evidence from:

• The English Housing Survey (English Housing Survey 2014/2015: Unsuitable accommodation, by age and tenure.) (EHS), from which the following data has been derived:
  • The proportion of wheelchair users that use a wheelchair exclusively indoors and the equivalent proportion of wheelchair users using a wheelchair exclusively outdoors.
  • Data about unmet accessible housing need for wheelchair user households.
• The Scottish Household Survey (Scottish Household Survey 2015: Accommodation suitability.) (SHS), from which the following has been derived: data about the suitability of accommodation amongst wheelchair user households.

In addition to this, household population data for Gateshead (ONS 2018-based household projections for England: detailed data for modelling) has been used to apply the method derived from the Horizon Housing model to produce local estimates of the number of wheelchair user households and wheelchair user households with unmet need for accessible housing.

Table 26 shows the household count data for Gateshead, data about wheelchair users and unmet need that may be applied to Gateshead.

Table 26. Wheelchair user households and unmet need for accessible housing.

Source: ONS 2018; Horizon Housing: Still Minding the step?

To produce estimates of need for accessible housing, the data (percentages) in table 26 are applied to the total number of households in Gateshead, following the method outlined in the Horizon Housing model. The method is as follows:

• Calculate the number of indoor-only wheelchair user households.
• Calculate the number of outdoor-only wheelchair user households.
• Calculate the number of wheelchair user households where the user uses the wheelchair continuously.
• Calculate the unmet housing need among indoor-only wheelchair user households.
• Calculate the unmet housing need among outdoor-only wheelchair user households.
• Calculate the unmet housing need among wheelchair user households using wheelchairs continuously.
• Calculate all unmet need among wheelchair user households.

Table 27 shows the application of this model for both Gateshead and for England.

Table 27. Estimate of number of households with a wheelchair user and an unmet need for accessible housing, for Gateshead and England. Method derived from Horizon Housing model

Source: Horizon Housing (2018), English Housing Survey (2014 to 2015), Scottish Household Survey (2015) and ONS 2018-based estimate for households in England.

Based on the Horizon model, there are estimated to be 648 wheelchair users in Gateshead that have an unmet need for accessible housing currently.

It is assumed that wheelchair users most likely to require a fully adapted property are indoor only and continuous wheelchair users, for example approximately 38% of estimated unmet need for accessible housing.

Of these approximately 650 households:

• It is estimated that approximately 250 fully wheelchair adapted homes are required for example, similar to Part M(4) Category 3 broadly equivalent to the Wheelchair Housing Design standard.
• It is estimated that approximately 400 accessible and adaptable homes are required (for example, not fully wheelchair adapted homes) for example, similar to Part M(4) Category 2 broadly equivalent to the Lifetime Homes standard.

The Habinteg model has the following underlying assumption that the majority of wheelchair users (60%) are age 65+, and the remaining (40%) are for working age adults and under-18s. This assumption is based on data from the English Housing Survey.

Application of the Habinteg model on age disaggregation of wheelchair users allows for the estimate of households that have an unmet need for accessible housing, generated from the Horizon model, broken down by age of wheelchair user.

The table below shows the projected growth in the number of wheelchair user homes with an unmet need, over the period to 2040. This is disaggregated by age group of the wheelchair users within those homes.

Table 28. Projected growth in number of wheelchair users with an unmet need for accessible housing to 2040, disaggregated by age group.

Source: ONS 2019-based household projections for England; Habinteg Housing/Horizon Housing models

In summary, by 2040, it is estimated that there will be approximately 675 wheelchair users with an unmet need for accessible housing, of which:

• It is estimated that approximately 255 wheelchair users require fully wheelchair adapted homes, similar to Part M(4) Category 3 broadly equivalent to the Wheelchair Housing Design standard.
• This is the equivalent of a need for approximately 15 fully wheelchair-adapted homes required per year to 2040 for the all-age population.
• Among the working age population, this is the equivalent of a need for approximately six fully wheelchair-adapted homes required per year to 2040.
• It is estimated that approximately 420 wheelchair users require accessible and adaptable homes (such as not fully wheelchair adapted dwellings), similar to Part M(4) Category 2, broadly equivalent to the Lifetime Homes standard.
• This is the equivalent of a need for approximately 25 accessible and adaptable homes required per year to 2040, for the all-age population.
• For the working age population, this is the equivalent of a need for approximately 10 accessible and adaptable homes required per year to 2040.

Table 29 shows the estimated need for accessible homes to 2040 for the all-age population and the population aged 0 to 64 years (such as children and working age population).

Table 29. Estimated need for accessible homes to 2040 for the all-age population and the population aged 0 to 64.

The above estimate of a need for approximately 675 accessible homes in Gateshead to 2040, is disaggregated by each neighbourhood area, according to the population composition of the neighbourhoods.

In order to disaggregate the unmet need (table 33) by each neighbourhood, estimates for the population (ONS Mid-2020 Population Estimates for 2020 Wards and 2021 LAs in England and Wales by Single Year of Age and Sex, Persons - Experimental Statistics; Table SAPE23DT8a) across all age groups, for each ward, has been aggregated to neighbourhood level, and the relative composition of each neighbourhood's proportion of Gateshead's population is used to disaggregate the estimates of need for accessible homes.

The neighbourhood-level disaggregation for unmet need for accessible housing is shown in the table below.

Table 30. Projected unmet need for accessible homes, by 2040 disaggregated by each neighbourhood in Gateshead.

Source: ONS 2020 ward population estimates and ONS 2018-based subnational population projection

This indicates that there is an ongoing need for housing adapted to both M4(2) and M4(3) standards which is addressed through the current approach of the council which has an ongoing planning policy for 25% of homes on new housing developments over 15 dwellings to be built to M4(2) standards.