An Accessible Housing Register: Registering the approach in Gloucestershire

A good idea is still a good idea – decades after its conception. In Gloucestershire, we recognised that accessible social housing for disabled people can be difficult to find, whilst also realising the value these homes can bring, not just to families and individuals but also to wider health and social care systems. Barrier-free homes are an essential part of creating occupational justice, especially in an ageing population.

The first step was to obtain consent for using the categories described in the London Accessible Housing Register (from the Greater London Authority and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) in Gloucestershire. We were very grateful for their permission. 

The London Accessible Housing Register | London City Hall (opens new window)

Its worth noting that the Accessible Housing Register (AHR) is not actually a register but a categorisation system for the level of accessibility a home provides. The categories run A through to G and cover homes suitable for wheelchair users, homes more easily suitable for further adaptation and those homes simply with level access only or up to 4 steps to enter. The information is held by the housing provider and advertised on our choice-based letting system when the property is empty.

The AHR provides many benefits:                      

• Accurate information to inform choice for those with a physical disability
• Inform all housing colleagues of differing needs requiring different environmental levels of accessibility
• Long term data on the amount of accessible housing stock to inform strategy
• Matching people to properties will reduce the spend on adaptations from the disabled facilities grant

Critical to the success of this system has been formal adoption by the five large social housing providers in Gloucestershire. Collaboration has been essential with the providers doing much of the heavy lifting in assessing their homes. The categorisation can occur as a part of a stock condition survey or at void, or both – housing providers have chosen different collection methods and adopted it with varying speed. A myth we have busted is that every property will need the property form completed in full – where there are more than 4 steps to enter, many homes can be categorised from an accurate knowledge of the stock.

The community occupational therapists have had their housing report templates revamped to include a desired category A-F, considering current ability and functional prognosis. This enables a matching process, where that is needed.  It is important that the predicted category is not a requirement – residents need to be able to bid on lower categories than they are recommended to ensure a timely move. The system has not yet created more accessible stock to be available.

The categories are based on accessibility standards that have been largely super ceded by Approved Document Part M in 2015, dating as they do from around 2006. We have undertaken a comparison of the newer accessibility standards and the AHR categories and made recommendations to housing providers to enable newly built part M properties to be categorised within the existing system. 

It is a system which makes a clear distinction between homes that have been adapted (info also still advertised) and those that are accessible – it prioritises accessibility in recognising that adapted homes may still not be accessible. 

More than half of those living in social housing have a long-term disability; accessible housing is not a specialist issue therefore but one that all housing providers should consider, enabling inclusive environments in which people can thrive.

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The Housing LIN is delighted to publish Neil’s blog as part of our support for Accessible Homes Week 2025. Neil was the Foundations’ Housing Occupational Therapist of the Year in 2023.

For tools and resources on how Occupational Therapists’ input into housing, visit dedicated pages on our Design Hub.

And for more information on the genesis of the Accessible Housing Register at the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, read this Housing LIN Viewpoint.