Suitable housing for disabled people must be prioritised

The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee published its inquiry report on disabled people in the housing sector where Propertymark gave evidence, which examined barriers to accessible housing, increasing the supply of accessible homes, and the support available for adapting homes, including reforms to the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG). The overarching conclusion chimes with our long-held position that the ultimate key to tackling the housing crisis is to build more homes of all kinds.

Following a public consultation, the UK Government made a policy commitment in 2022 to increase the minimum accessibility standard for all newly built homes to the ‘M4(2)’ standard of building regulations, but this has not been carried forward.

The LUHC recommends that the Building Safety Regulator should launch the required technical consultation immediately and the change to a higher minimum standard should be actioned as soon as possible.