The unfinished journey of accessible housing in the UK

‘The demise of the great British doorstep’ shouted The Times front page, above a picture of a pinny wearing woman on hands and knees, scrubbing the front step of a terraced house. That’s what I remember of the day in1999 that Building Regulations Approved Document M was amended to improve ease of access for disabled people in new homes.

It was just four years after the passage of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, yet the headline’s alarmist tone was ‘othering’, wilfully ignoring any possible benefit of evolving to step-free thresholds – after all, what do disabled people have to do with the rest of us?

I would like to think that the writer has now experienced the benefits of step free access, whether taking his children shopping or treating an elderly relative to lunch, or maybe he himself has a new impairment to accommodate as he ages.

Accessible design as promoted by Part M, initially intended to improve life for disabled people, has become a common feature of public spaces that benefits us all – a physical manifestation of a new value – that of inclusion.

Forged in the fire of disabled people’s campaigning, the DDA framed the legal context for more inclusive places and business practices. Yet it’s impact on housing was far more limited with unfinished business even to this day. Its successor, the Equality Act 2010 set out provisions for reasonable adjustments to common parts of housing blocks which have still yet to be implemented.

Public expectations of fairness and inclusion have come a long way since the DDA was passed, and rightly so. Yet holding such expectations in the matter of housing will often disappoint.

Despite the extension of Part M to cover new homes, it’s basic standard offers no guarantee of true accessibility. It’s now ten years since the it expanded to specify features of accessible and adaptable homes and those that are designed to meet the needs of wheelchair users, yet there is no available data on how many have been built.

With local planning authorities left to decide how many such homes are needed (rather than a more accessible nationally applicable baseline standard) Habinteg’s latest Accessible Homes Forecast shows a clear postcode lottery on the prevalence of new homes that will meet the housing needs of disabled people.

Whilst many areas of policy and practice support inclusion of disabled people better in 2025, due to the achievements of the DDA, there is still some way to go to eradicate that ‘othering’ that can obstruct real progress. Nowhere is this clearer than in the housing sector where big strides are needed to create housing choices that live up to people’s rightful hopes and expectations.

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This is the eighth in a series of Housing LIN guest blogs leading up to the 30th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act. The series will end in an extended HAPPI Hour webinar on Tuesday, 11 November 2025, where contributors will share expert insights and assess progress on disability, accessible housing, and the built environment.

Information about our next series of free HAPPI Hour sessions and how to sign up as a delegate will appear on our Forthcoming Events pages.