New National Housing Strategy for Disabled People
The second National Housing Strategy for Disabled People 2022 – 2027 was published on 14th January 2022 by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) with the Department of Health (DoH) and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY).
The second Strategy to 2027 will build on the considerable achievements of the 2011 Strategy, continuing the journey of the last 10 years which saw many people with disabilities allocated suitable housing, new structures developed to align housing provision with needed health and social care supports, progress made on decongregation into community residential care and increasing awareness and understanding of disability and housing within housing and disability services.
The 2022 Strategy re-echoes the vision of the first Strategy with a particular emphasis on disabled people having choice and control over their living arrangements. It seeks ‘to facilitate disabled people to live independently with the appropriate choices and control over where, how and with whom they live, promoting their inclusion in the community; and to further enable equal access for disabled people to housing with integrated support services’.
This new Strategy has been developed to clearly present Government’s vision for housing for disabled people:
- by the three key Departments involved
- following a comprehensive 8-month, 2-phase consultation including online focus groups held with the Disability Participation and Consultation Network
- to support and strengthen the co-operation and collaboration of Government departments, state agencies, local authorities and others in delivering housing and related supports for disabled people over the next five years
A thematic approach to delivery is set out in the Strategy with each theme having desired outcomes that when delivered will contribute to the overall vision. The six themes include accessible housing and communities and affordability of housing alongside themes related to further developing knowledge, capacity and expertise across the sector and collaboration between the policy and delivery partners across the State. Key elements of progress from the 2011 Strategy in the new 2022-2027 Strategy are:
- The Vision for the new Strategy has evolved from the first Strategy and, driven by the feedback to the consultation, now places independent living and being included in the community at its centre
- The new Strategy aligns with the principles and provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and implementation of the new Strategy will be monitored through a UNCRPD lens
- the structures that were established under the first Strategy, and which are widely regarded as being key to the progress made, have been reviewed and the new Strategy seeks to improve their operation and overall effectiveness.
Attention now turns to work on the very important Implementation Plan for the Strategy, the preparation of which will be overseen by The Housing Agency, and to be published by mid-year, detailing how outcomes will be achieved. Pending development of the Implementation Plan, a number of Actions requiring immediate progress are included by Theme.
The suite of documents accompanying the Strategy can be found below.
Supplementary Documents:
