Living not existing: The economic & social value of wheelchair user homes

In March 2023, Habinteg commissioned the London School of Economics (LSE) and Political Science Housing and Communities research group to undertake research into the social and economic value of wheelchair user homes.

The research was designed to review and apply  existing and extensive research evidence around the costs and benefits of accessible housing to the specific question of providing more new build wheelchair accessible homes.

It has two main elements:

1.  A cost-benefit analysis, assessing the economic and social value of wheelchair user homes. This is set out in three cost-benefit models based on three groups of wheelchair user households:

• Households with children who use wheelchairs

• Working age, adult, wheelchair user households.

• People in later life who use wheelchairs (aged 65 and over).

2.  A qualitative analysis of 17 interviews with wheelchair users, to understand how living in a suitable wheelchair user home impacts them or how they are affected by the lack of a suitable home.

These interviews provided insight into the impacts of a wheelchair user homes on varied aspects of life, including family cohesion, independence, parenting, community engagement, and physical and mental wellbeing. We have used quotes from the interviewees in this report with pseudonyms to protect participants’ privacy.

The main finding - which you can read in our summary report, Living not existing: The economic & social value of wheelchair user homes - is that the overall positive benefits of new wheelchair accessible housing appear to clearly be greater than the costs.

Key findings

Positive financial value

•For a working age wheelchair user, the benefit of living in a wheelchair user home can be valued at around £94,000 over a 10 year period.

• For a later years wheelchair user household (aged 65 and over), the benefit could be around £100,000 over a 10 year period.

• For a household with a child who is a wheelchair user, the benefit of living in a suitable wheelchair user home could be around £67,000 over a 10 year period.

The value calculations combine reduced public expenditure – for example to the NHS, Local Authorities and welfare benefits – with revenue generation through elements such as tax and national insurance payments when disabled people or their families are able to take up or increase paid work.

These estimations of benefits should be regarded as indicative of the nature and extent of the gains.

Benefits vs costs

• The average ‘additional’ cost of building an M4(3)  home, which is then occupied by a working age adult  wheelchair user is £22,000 – compared to the 10-year  benefit value of £94,000, which suggests around four  times the benefit compared to the cost.
   
• The average additional cost of building an M4(3)  home occupied by a later year’s wheelchair userhousehold is £18,000 – compared to the 10-year  value of benefits of over £101,000, which suggests around five times the benefit compare to the cost.
   
• The average additional cost of building an M4(3) home occupied by a household with a wheelchair user child is around £26,000 – compared to the 10-year  benefit value of £66,000, which suggests about two &  a half times the benefit compared to the cost.

Recommendations

Habinteg is calling on government to:

1. Revise the National Planning Policy Framework to explicitly require all local plans to include a specific policy and target for new wheelchair accessible (M4(3) homes, and where no local target is set to require 10% of new homes to meet the standard.
    
2. Require the Planning Inspectorate to reject any local plan that omits a policy statement and target for M4(3) homes.
    
3. Ensure that Homes England prioritises funding for developments that provide new wheelchair accessible homes across a range of house types and tenures.
    
4. Implement the planned new regulatory baseline for accessible homes and ensure that all Local Authorities enforce the requirements to build to the M4(2) accessible and adaptable standard. This will provide greater accessible and adaptable housing choice for all.

Find out more

• Read Habinteg's summary report Living not existing: The economic & social value of wheelchair user homes .
• Download the full report into the social and economic value of wheelchair user housing from the London School of Economics and Political Science website.
• Read our media release.