Read our new Lewisham People’s Parliament report on housing
In March we held a Lewisham People’s Parliament on housing. This is a subject we hear a lot about, particularly in our 121 advocacy services where people come to us with many housing issues. People with learning disabilities say they feel frustrated at the lack of housing opportunities for them.
You can now read our report
Or click this picture to read the report
We enjoyed having guest speakers from Learning Disability England and My Life My Choice. They gave a presentation on people renting their own homes.
It was also great to have some of Lewisham Council’s Housing Team join us. They helped to run a workshop on what help the Council can provide.
What people said about housing
Some of the main things that came out of the Parliament were:
- People with learning disabilities are affected by housing in a lot of ways
- Poor housing conditions can affect the health of people with learning disabilities
- When people don’t have a choice where they live, it can affect their mental and physical health
- People don’t feel heard or listen to when they report problems with their housing to the council or to their landlords
- People with learning disabilities say that the housing problems in Lewisham are getting worse
- Covid-19 showed how important it was to have good housing and be able to choose who you live with and where you live
- Applying for council and social housing can be complicated and long.
- The process of applying for social and council housing is not accessible
- People with learning disabilities need more support to understand the process. There needs to be more support and ways to apply, such as in person with a housing officer
- People with learning disabilities said they need to have clearer information about housing and the process of applying for housing needs to be more accessible
We look forward to talking about our housing report with other self advocacy groups, with our local partnership board and with the Council Housing team!
