Disability Facilities Grant – discriminated against yet again.

Introduction.

Many readers will have followed our struggles to find a wheelchair accessible home in Spalding Lincolnshire. So just to recap, we have tried to help ourselves by:-

1.  Private rental but nothing out there ready to move into, and landlords will not give you a long enough tenancy to apply for the grants for alterations needed.
2. We are currently on SHDC s waiting list, but again they do not have suitable properties on their books, and they are about to change the rules so that our local connections will not be local enough anymore. We currently have the maximum points for a medical grounds move.
3.  We are on numerous housing charities waiting lists, but they do not have properties in Spalding where we want to live.
4. We spoke with the organisations that report to help the disabled with specialist mortgages, but because I am of working age, likely to return to work, not disabled myself, they will not help us.
5.  Have tried to educate and make local politicians aware that the system is not working for the poorest, most disabled in society.
6. We found an organisation, MIVA Partnership that are trying to help us, but once they get this latest news I think they will run for the hills. They proposed buying a place for us to adapt and rent off them long term. Their biggest struggle is getting the necessary finance so that they can make the standard buy to let return ratio of 8%.

Update.

Two weeks ago we thought we had found an ideal property to alter for Hubby’s needs. Just so you know we are not looking at palaces it was at the £120k mark. Our contact told us to start the ball rolling for the Disability Facility Grant as the property would need some substantial alterations to make it suitable for partially tetraplegic (paralysis in all four limbs) Hubby, me and our care team. Our contact in the housing team at SHDC sent a referral for us to the Lincolnshire County Council OT’s based in Lincoln.

Today I had a very depressing conversation with one of the OT’s where it has become very apparent that we do not stand a snow ball in hells chance of getting any financial help, not because we do not qualify but because the procedures in place are so rigid that they discriminate against the most disabled and poorest in society.

Why do I say that ?

1.       I was told , the whole grant procedure can take 5-8 months to release the monies, meanwhile you would have to live in the property.

                        WE can not do that, I would be putting my Hubby in physical danger if I did that. He can not go 5-8 months without having a shower, not being able to gain access via ramps to the property, not being able to access several rooms due to door sizes, etc. Also he is not well enough to live on a building site. I also have to consider the Health and Safety of our care team and myself come to that. Working in confined badly designed spaces is an accident waiting to happen. I am in constant pain at the moment because my back is close to giving out on me, due to all the manual lifting I have to do, in our currently badly designed space.

2.       What private landlord is going wait 5-8 months before he gets his monthly rent ?

NONE ARE.

So it looks like to me , that unless you own your own home, and are therefore not the poorest in society, there is no help for you to ensure that you live in a safe, and accessible home.

In Summary.

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT SEVERELY DISABLED PEOPLE WHO NEED TO RENT ARE SUPPOSED TO DO, as I have run out of ideas?

Most people when we tell them what has happened to us, can not believe that in BRITAIN today we do not look after our most vulnerable, what does that say about the society we live in.

Please RT this, copy it, spread the word, people need to know the present system is not helping the most needy in society.