just had my mum on the phone and they've been offered a 2 bedroom bungalow and accepted it.
To cut a (very) long story short my parents moved from Bedford up to Cleveland a few years ago. They rented their current house (private tenants) 'blind' - in that only my Aunty (dad's sister) had seen it. She told them the curtains were terrible but failed to mention 15 very steep steps that have to be climbed to get to the front door - and there's no hand rail either (they 'bend' round so it's not straight up).
Anyhow, my mum has arthritis in her knees as well as Parkinsons (complete with difficult walking, the 'stoop' and most of the other symptoms that come with it). They've been living there a few years now and while her condition has deterioated there's been nothing they could do about the steps. And for my mum it meant she was a virtual prisoner in the house during winter as they get very slippy easily.
They've had their name on the list for a council house for sometime now - but obviously with mum's disabilities they were waiting for a suitable place to come up. This process was speeded up recently by my parents being sent a letter telling them the owner of the house is selling up, and my mum also getting more 'points' on the waiting list because she's recently been awared the highest rate of DLA.
They had a letter this week offering them a 2 bedroom bungalow, which they been and seen and accepted. Mum called this morning and as soon as I answered she sounded excited - as her if she was ok and she just blurted out "WE'RE MOVING". Apparently it's a really lovely 2 bedroom bungalow - they need to have a few things done before they move in (plumbing for a washing machine, shower fitted etc etc) and they've still got 2 steps to get into the place - but there's already proper handrails either side which she can cope with. And when the time finally comes that she's confined to a wheelchair there's plenty of space to make a ramp.
I'm SO happy for them (well mum in particular). When their landlord said he was selling up they said they'd take a bungalow or house (so long as the latter had space for a chair lift) but with mum's condition a bungalow is really the best option.
It's even connected to the Warden System - which is particularly useful as mum is often on her own in the house as my dad runs his own photo restoration business (from home - but goes and delivers and picks up the work).