Dr. Emer Begley:

I am Emer Begley and I am the director of advocacy at the Disability Federation of Ireland, DFI. I am joined by my colleague, Ríona Morris. Ríona is a policy and research officer and specialises in housing policy.

We welcome the opportunity to talk to the committee about a social policy report we published jointly with the Citizens Information Board, CIB, in December. Our report, titled The Right Home: The Housing Needs of People with Disabilities, brings together evidence from people with disabilities, from DFI staff members working in communities across the country and our membership - DFI has over 100 member organisations. It also draws on evidence from the CIB and our colleagues in the National Advocacy Service - Ms Condon has already mentioned its input into the report.

Before I outline some of the findings of the report and recommendations, I want to frame this within the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, in particular, Article 19, which states that signatories "recognize the equal right of all persons with disabilities to live in the community, with choices equal to others", and to ensure that "persons with disabilities have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement".

The findings of our joint policy report show that we are not delivering this fundamental right to independent living in Ireland, as outlined in the UNCRPD. This is evidenced in the figures related to homelessness which show that 27% of the homeless population have a disability. It is also evident in the long waiting lists for social housing for disabled people - more than ten years for some but significantly longer than for the general population. In 2020, for example, the number of disabled people on the housing list declined at half the rate of those without disabilities, at 5% compared to 10%. If this is not proactively addressed, there is a high risk that some people could end up inappropriately living in congregated setting, such as nursing homes, as Ms O'Connell outlined, and in other institutions. We have already heard of the 1,300 people with disabilities under the age of 65 inappropriately placed in nursing homes as well as the delay in decongregation.

There is evidence of the difficulty in people wishing to adapt their existing residence as they live in the community - people who acquire a disability, have a child with a disability or have a progressing disabling condition. The housing adaptation grant has not been revised in more than ten years, despite, as we all will be aware, the substantially increased building costs. The funding available under the grant is also limited, which means modifications to the residence are quite small. It also does not include assistive technologies. A review was started by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage last year and DFI made a submission to this. We are looking forward to forthcoming outcomes of this review and we may see these move forward this year.

Colleagues on the panel have referred to the Ombudsman 2021 report, Wasted Lives, and the Time to Move on from Congregated Settings report, and challenges in the implementation and roll-out of solutions to address these two issues. Our policy report also highlights similar systemic difficulties experienced by disabled people who do not currently live in congregated settings, such as those who want to live independently who are currently living with family members or those forced to live in inaccessible housing due to a lack of options. The committee may wish to refer, in particular, to chapter five of the report, which documents the lived experience through 15 case studies. These outline the human impact of the lack of equal housing options for disabled people.

A key recommendation from out policy report is that crucially there needs to be integrated working across policy areas and departmental briefs. I am speaking specifically in relation to housing, health and social care support. Ms O'Connell, in Assisted Brain Injury Ireland, ABII, has outlined the importance of health and social care pathways for people. This committee could help to drive this change. For example, it could collaborate with the committees on housing and health to hold a joint hearing to consider disability housing in the round.

Alongside decongregation processes and moving people out of nursing homes, adequate funding is also required to deliver fully-accessible housing and support provision for disabled people who are currently living in the community or who wish to live independently. Mainstreaming disability in all housing policy, including future-proofing the new housing stock under Housing for All, should include building to Universal Design++ standards, making housing not only wheelchair visitable but wheelchair liveable. The right to independent living is one of the central rights in the UNCRPD. To deliver on this right, there is a need for co-ordinated housing and social care supports. This requires cross-departmental working at a national level as I have outlined, but also at a local level, between the HSE, local authorities, voluntary organisations, housing agencies and disability groups. We have heard how people are being held up in acute care when their home care package might be ready but their home is not accessible, or vice versa.

The new national housing strategy for disabled people was published in January 2022. It was roundly welcomed and is great progress in this fundamental area, but we are still waiting on the implementation plan, which was promised in June. Without this instrumental implementation structure and monitoring processes, progress will be slow, and it is crucial that this is forthcoming in a timely manner. There are solutions and ways to move forward, but it requires leadership, resourcing and collaboration. There are opportunities across the sector. The organisations here today all work collaboratively and collectively on many different issues and DFI would certainly be in a position to support any progress in this area.

I thank the Chairperson again for the opportunity to present today.