Just 140 of London’s 43,000 rentals on the market feature the most basic accessibility features, according to a new study from stairlift and home lift company Stannah, revealing the difficult reality for disabled people in London looking for rental accommodation.
Using the search terms ‘step-free access’, ‘wet room’ and ‘level access’ – which are desirable features in a home for someone with mobility issues – Stannah then compared the results to the total number of rental properties available in the capital.
Of 43,518 rental properties across London available at the time of research, 129 had step-free access, 158 featured a wet room, and 133 featured level access – meaning that only an average of 140 properties across the city are suitable for disabled people.
With London’s population at approximately 7,556,900, this works out at just 0.00002 disability-friendly properties per resident.
Despite The London Plan including goals for 90% of new homes to be accessible and adaptable, data shows that only three local authorities have achieved this goal since 2015-16.
Across London, 13.2% of people are disabled (using the definition under the Equality Act 2010). At a borough level, this ranges from 16.2% of the population in Islington to 10.7% in the City of London and 11.4% in Wandsworth. The three boroughs with the highest proportion of people who are disabled are Islington, Camden (15.2%) and Havering (14.7%).
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Stannah analysed accessible keywords for 20 of the UK’s most populated cities in total and, despite the results, London came out on top for the most properties matching the searched keywords.
Vaila Morrison, Inclusive Design Expert at Stannah, comments: “It is likely that there are more rental properties with accessibility features available in the Capital than the data suggests, which may be due to landlords’ lack of knowledge on what information is important to highlight for people with access needs. More awareness is needed among landlords on what disabled and older house-hunters search for in a property, then include relevant keywords such as ‘wheelchair accessible parking’, ‘step-free access’, ‘wet room’ and ‘level access.
“This, coupled with the research, highlights the barriers that disabled Londoners face when trying to rent a suitable property. The shortage of accessible rental housing clearly shows that disabled individuals’ safety, independence and dignity needs is not understood and more needs to be done to address this.
“Living in unsuitable housing can have a profound impact on the physical and mental health of someone with a disability. Being unable to move freely around the home may create an increased reliance on family members and, therefore, removes valuable independence.”
