LIMERICK people with disabilities are being encouraged to think about the future and apply to Limerick City and County Council for housing if they believe they will need it in the coming years.
It’s part of the Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) ‘Think Ahead, Think Housing’ campaign to ensure more social housing for people with disabilities.
According to IWA national director of housing Tony Cunningham, the campaign is aimed at anyone with a disability in Limerick who wants to move out of home and begin an independent life. It also applies to anyone who is worried about where they will end up living as they get older.
“Our campaign is encouraging and supporting people to apply to their local authority for housing sooner rather than later. There is no wheelchair liveable housing available through private rental or local authorities, so we are campaigning for change,” he explained.
“It is the responsibility of disabled people to apply to their local authority for social housing in order to be included in new housing development plans, which will take a number of years to be completed.
“We know that in Limerick and across Ireland there isn’t just an accessible housing shortage, there is a complete absence of any wheelchair liveable housing options.
“As a result, there are 1,300 young and middle-aged people with physical disabilities who have been forced to live in nursing homes for older people because of the lack of accessible social housing.
“This cannot be the future and there is a lot of work to do locally and nationally for our housing campaign.
“We have even more ambitious plans to change Ireland’s outdated inaccessible building regulations but we need disabled people who want to live independently to contact their Limerick City and County Councils, get included and be seen. We can only achieve change together,” Mr Cunningham declared.
IWA national housing programme manager Jean Coleman said the government’s national housing strategy aims to increase the supply of social housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade through €4billion state funding per year.
“For the first time, applicants can register their need for wheelchair liveable accommodation on their application form. Up to last year, it wasn’t possible for a disabled person to specifically include their accessibility requirements on their social housing application form,” she explained
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