Local authority restricting bungalows on age basis

[SimplySteve]

I've considered that my local authority restricting bungalows to over 55s (regardless if they have any disabilities etc, age is the sole eligibility criteria) is ageism? Being restricted from one when we are both carrying serious disability is shocking, even have support from GP, social worker, medical specialist nurse. We fall numerous times a week in current property too. This is discriminatory surely?

posters saying OP should "accept what you are given" on the grounds of being council-housed rather than self-funding need to realise that the issue is not that OP is being fussy about what they are being offered - they are being offered nothing at all, just kept waiting, while suitable bungalows regularly become available and are assigned elsewhere, quite possibly to people in less need than OP.

yanbu to be frustrated OP.

However, it isn't illegal discrimination for the council to own and administer a specialised development of bungalows designated for over 55s. Provision of facilities reserved for a particular protected group is perfectly legal, like having ladies loos, specialist services for Asian people or facilities dedicated to the LGBT community.

if all the bungalows are on dedicated developments of bungalows which are all exclusively reserved for the over-55s then you do not have a case OP. It is reasonable and proportional for them to maintain such developments. If there are any bungalows that are in a mixed development where some under-55s are already living, then you may have a chance.

Just to clarify - you say the only prerequisite for getting a bungalow is being over-55, but surely it's a points-based system like the rest of the LA bidding? So yes, there is a rule that you do have to be over-55 to bid on a bungalow, that won't be the only thing that qualifies someone to get one unless they're extremely lucky and the only person from a group of thousands who want to bid on that bungalow. They will also have points based on need which would include disability? Am only saying this as most areas don't have many bungalows but will have many over-55s, a significant number of whom (probably much older than 55) will have disabilities and need these bungalows too. You make it sound like you're losing out to 55 year olds who are fit as a fiddle and just want to live it up in a bungalow, but I very much doubt that's the case. The need in all categories will be too great to meet the demand so this is how it shakes down, however unfairly.

I have an acquaintance who lives in a LA bungalow and is early 60's These are also age restricted to over 55. Bungalow makes it sound grander than it is, they are not large. But they are in a warden supported complex. The age restriction is because it is older people, and coffee mornings and the like are run to support vulnerable elderly people. There is no other criteria except age, but they are allocated based on need.

They are part of the LA social care offer to elderly people. Although an outsider may look at some of the people who live there and query it, as some of the residents are physically fine, but have mental health issues or cognitive issues.

Did you want something different to your other thread about exactly the same thing, a few weeks ago.

Where my parents live the LA has taken away the age restriction for bungalows. There is no warden for these. It has caused significant problems. For example a disabled teenager who has moved in and is playing loud music and having parties is causing lots of the elderly people who live there to complain.
None of the bungalows I have mentioned are suitable for families as they all only have 1 bedroom and are very small.

This made me splutter. Some elderly people have their TVs up so loud I'd rather live next to someone young who has the occasional all night party!
You might, my parents would not - see above. You are thinking of the mindset of a young person.

I think people are being very unkind.
Particularly shocked at FenellasRedVelvetDress comparing a want for a second reception room with an actual need for a property suitable for physical disability.
And yes I do think it's discriminatory to only give bungalows to over 55s.

max The only place I have known of these rules is in warden supported places.

You might have a disability but the person getting the bungalow has a disability AND age related issues. They win

Surely that depends on the nature of the disability. My dd is physically disabled but can cope with stairs. The OP cannot.

As for the idea of 55 being a cut-off age for old age, this seems seriously odd. I'm 55. That does not make me a vulnerable elderly person: it makes me a middle-aged person with another 12 years or so of active working life ahead of me.

I also have a mild disability, but as it does not involve inability to cope with steps it would be grossly unfair to suggest my age and my disability trump the OPs actual inability to deal with steps.

My question was - if a suitable ground floor flat came available, would you still insist upon a bungalow? You do make it sound as though even if a ground floor flat came up that was perfect for you, you’d still refuse it on the basis that it’s a flat and not a bungalow.

I don't think the OP is saying that at all, MrsAriadne.

Also, speaking as someone who lived for many years with a wheelchair user, it's not just about a lack of stairs: you also need enough hall space to manoeuvre a wheelchair: very few ground-floor flats meet these requirements, bungalows more often do.

You make it sound like you're losing out to 55 year olds who are fit as a fiddle and just want to live it up in a bungalow, but I very much doubt that's the case

I can send you the phone number to the company controlling housing stock and they will confirm this is very much the case.

To the poster declaring I can obviously use the internet/written communication regardless of my disability, really? You have no idea what my disabilities are and how they affect me, your comment was crass, and I use email a significant amount. Do you see my arms and hands shaking and my fingers developing severe pain when doing so!

Yes, I did post this before, I clarified earlier due to confusion and poor memory relating to disability I'd forgotten.

There are warden controlled bungalows, usually grouped together. There is also stock of "standalone" bungalows with no warden support that are available. The only restriction on all bungalows is to be over 55, no disability or other mitigation is required, purely restricted on age.

Think I'm going to sign off this thread soon, can't believe some of the shit I'm getting tbh.

@corythatwas

Well, we disagree then. Sounds that way to me.

Think I'm going to sign off this thread soon, can't believe some of the shit I'm getting tbh

You’re hardly getting shit the comment about internet use was meant in a helpful way. Do you just want everyone to agree with you?

I used to work for the NHS in the A&E dept. The proportion of elderly people admitted due to falls is huge. Having the older community living in warden controlled bungalows cuts this down massively.

For goodness sake I wasn't being crass at all merely suggesting that we are not the people who can help! Try contacting the people who can. My comment was pointing out that you could do exactly what you're doing here but directed at people who could actually help you !

Bungalows are in short supply. They are more expensive to build and maintain and take up more space than a block of flats.

I get you would rather live in a bungalow. I remember you mentioning before about wanting to park your car in your own drive. Well, we all have a wish list, but whether it's from the council or our own funds, most ideal properties have to remain a pipe dream.

Many flats have an adjacent car park. My granny's local authority flat had car park with ramp to building, wide corridors and charging points for mobility scooters. It was not specifically for old people.

Jesus @MrsAriadneOliver I have already posted, and tagged you in it, we've bid on gffs, and we're even offered one but the offer was removed on disability grounds due to prevalence of steps and distance to the flat from the car park. As I said earlier, do you have any comprehension of what it's like for a blind person to push someone in a wheelchair say 300 metres with, or without steps in the journey? A blind person with rheumatoid arthritis who suffers immense leg pain when walking.

So yes, we'd take a gff, but there cannot be steps or any considerable distance, or heavy doors. And yes, really my areas flats are 95%+ communal and the remaining 5% have their own direct external doors but there has not been a single one available in the 16 months we've been bidding. In this time we've bid on four gffs, but our disabilities have precluded offers. So we will continue being in a property with stairs and internal steps where we both fall every week, where navigating the stairs to the loo causes considerable pain and takes large amounts of time, and a bath we cannot use. This situation is ridiculous.

As I've also said earlier, anyone who thinks I'm talking shite is more than welcome to grab a train to my area and I will give you a personal tour of all the flats in the housing stock.

I'd say that if there are no properties other than bungalows suitable for people who require level access due to disability and the council is restricting all bungalows to 55+ then yes it's discrimination.

The area I grew up in sounds very similar re housing stock, but it is part of a city so there are other council houses available within a few miles. But in the area I lived in there were:
-sheltered housing (age restricted)
-multi storey blocks (level access but very very heavy doors and lifts often broke down)
-blocks of flats 4/5 storeys which pretty universally had 3-10 entrance steps leading to a very heavy communal entrance door. Even the ones with fewest steps wouldn't have worked as the area to stand on when opening the door was small and the door swung out. Wheelchair wouldn't fit. The bottom of these blocks were advertised as ground floor
-small number like above but genuinely ground floor, except they'd all been modernised and had incredibly heavy metal entrances.
-one section of flats with no entrance doors (yey,) and level access (yey) but flat doors positioned in such a way I don't think you'd have enough space to turn a wheelchair to get in.

It's perfectly possible that in her immediate area there are no accessible options for op.

MrsAriadneOliver OP absolutely is being given shit. Complete lack of sympathy for her situation, she's being disbelieved and questioned about the suitability of flats, and treated like she wants a bungalow as a lifestyle choice rather than to meet her needs.
No wonder the Tories get away with fucking over the disabled if this is the standard attitude.
People don't realise they are One serious illness or accident away from being in the same boat.

I get you would rather live in a bungalow. I remember you mentioning before about wanting to park your car in your own drive

No. We require a bungalow, or gff, with accessible parking due to OH being blind and arthritic and my being in a wheelchair. This isn't any kind of "wish list" ffs.

This thread reminds me far too strongly of what it was like to try to get support for a disabled child.

"Oh, but she can't be disabled seeing that she is able to do ", "oh but she has to accept that it is very inconvenient to supply

@SimplySteve

Look, you can get arsey all you want. But people aren’t mind readers and they don’t know the ins and outs of your situation. So when you say ‘do you have any idea what it’s like...!’ of course most people don’t.

Anyway I wish you luck in your search.

I think some of the comments on here are dreadful and if these are the views that some people have on people who have disabilities it feels like we have gone back in time to the Victorian days. "be grateful for what you have with your cheap rent etc". Good grief. Is that really what people think. You should all be ashamed of yourselves and hope you or members of your family don't develop any disabilities in the future.
Unfortunatly SimplySteve I don't know the legal parts of this but try every thing you can to get help - social services, doctors, local MP, relevent charities. Keep trying. Good luck.

@bookmum08
Why do you assume that those who may not agree that OP is being discriminated against are able-bodied themselves?