Everyone should have a good home.
People with a learning disability and autistic people have the same right as everyone else to live in a decent home, where they choose and with the support they need.
The Learning Disability and Autism Housing Coalition is a group of people and organisations working together to make this happen. Learning Disability England is one of these organisations.
Our Coalition brings together:
- people with lived experience
- families
- organisations that speak up for people’s rights
- housing and support providers
- local councils and commissioners
- national organisations and experts from housing, health and social care.
We work with people with a learning disability and autistic people and their families to:
- make sure people’s housing needs and rights are heard
- build evidence about why good housing matters
- influence government to make it easier for more housing to be provided for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
Why our work is important
A hospital should not be someone’s long-term home.
Too many people with a learning disability and autistic people are living in mental health hospitals when they could be living in their own home.
More than 2,000 people are living in hospital.
People often have to stay for many years.
Often the reason they have to stay in hospital is because there is not a home that meets their needs.
Specialist supported housing is housing that has been adapted to be a home for someone with a learning disability and autistic people. It comes with the support someone needs to live in their own home.
We want there to be more specialist supported housing with the right support to help people live good lives in their community.
What we have done
So far, the Coalition has:
- Spoken to the Government and other important organisations.
We have explained why we need more good supported housing for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
- Set up a group to look at information and evidence.
The group is looking at how much it costs to support people to live in their own homes.
- We will use this information to help the Government understand why the right housing and support is important.
What we want to do next
We want to:
- Listen to people with a learning disability, autistic people and their families.
We want to understand people’s experiences of living in hospital and living in their own home. We want to hear what is important to people when choosing and planning their home.
- Share what people tell us with decision makers.
This includes people in the Government and people who make decisions in local areas. We want them to understand what housing and support people need.
- Look at how much different types of housing and support cost.
This includes costs to the NHS and local councils.
- Use this information to ask the Government for change.
We want more money and support to help create more good supported housing for people with a learning disability and autistic people.
How to find out more
We want to work with people and organisations who want to make life better for people with learning disabilities through housing.
We ask members of the coalition to help us in one of two ways. They can pay money to support our work or help us with what we do.
If you would like to know more about the work of the Coalition please contact Penelope Green at penelopegreenconsulting@gmail.com.
Useful resources
