Enhancing the accessibility, adaptability and usability of Scotland's homes: consultation

Chapter 1 – Introduction and how to respond to this consultation

Purpose

To enhance the accessibility, adaptability and usability of homes delivered through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, the then Minister for Housing announced to Parliament in March 2019 that the Housing for Varying Needs design guide would be reviewed.

In March 2021, this commitment was reaffirmed within Housing to 2040 – Scotland’s first long-term national housing strategy. Within the strategy, the Scottish Government also committed to developing and introducing an all-tenure Scottish Accessible Homes Standard, which will be implemented through changes to building standards and guidance from 2025-26.

This consultation paper sets out proposed updates to Part 1 of the Housing for Varying Needs design guide and to building standards and guidance, offering you the opportunity to express your views on the changes we are proposing.

Housing for Varying Needs and building standards

‘Housing for Varying Needs: a design guide: Part 1 Housing and flats’ was produced by Scottish Homes in 1998. Housing for Varying Needs incorporates the ‘barrier free’ concept of accessibility and is a key reference document for the affordable housing sector in Scotland.

The guide, which continues to be well-regarded and is still considered to be a good design benchmark, recognises that people’s housing needs change through their lifetime and that homes should be flexible as a result. Its purpose is ‘…to offer guidance on good practice in the design of all housing, so that newly-built, refurbished or adapted buildings achieve a degree of flexibility, suit people of different abilities, are convenient to use and fit for their purpose’.

Housing for Varying Needs relates to the accessible design of dwellings and their fittings. The guide is complementary to the Building Standards Technical Handbooks, which set minimum requirements for new construction work under The Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (as amended). These regulations and supporting standards specifically address the functional performance of buildings and their fabric. The guidance provided in Section 3 ‘Environment’ and Section 4 ‘Safety’ of the Domestic Technical Handbook relating to accessibility is informed by recognised sources of good practice, including the current iteration of Housing for Varying Needs.

Drivers for the consultation

Although still considered a very good standard, the Housing for Varying Needs design guide is now around 25 years old.

As noted within Housing to 2040, stakeholders have told us that homes should be good quality and accessible by design or easily adaptable to allow people to live in their own home, and with no barriers to participation in daily life, work and their community.

Our built environment and homes need to be reflective of the changing needs and expectations of society. We prefer to live in our own home for longer, and independent living helps ease the pressure on other services such as health and social care. To support this, homes should be flexible and easily adaptable to suit changing needs. Accessible housing is an essential requirement of independent living and supports wellbeing.

Our engagement with a range of stakeholders with an interest in the review of the Housing for Varying Needs design guide – such as Registered Social Landlords, local authorities, health professionals and Disabled People’s Organisations – further reinforced the point that homes should be flexible in design to allow people to live independently, with or without care assistance, for as long as possible.

While our housing should be designed in a way that is suitable for all ages, we have an ageing population. The National Records of Scotland evidence that in 2001, the percentage of people aged 65 and over in Scotland was 16% of the total population. This increased to 20% by 2021.

According to analysis of the 2019 Scottish Household Survey, just over half (53.6%) of surveyed households with at least one member with a disability or long-standing illness that also require adaptations to make it easier for all householders to go about their daily activities self-report requiring one or more adaptations which they do not already have. This equates to around 80,000 households.

We need to take advantage of improvements in technology and ensure that our homes are digitally-enabled from the point of construction.

We must learn from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the way it has changed our everyday lives. That is why we are phasing in the requirement that all homes delivered by Registered Social Landlords and local authorities through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme should have private or communal outdoor space with room for people to sit outside, as well as space for home working or study.

Development of public sector Gypsy/Traveller sites has been limited in recent years, and standards have not always kept pace with those in the settled community. While not every aspect of the Housing for Varying Needs design guide is relevant, where achievable, Gypsy/Traveller accommodation should meet accessibility standards and provide for a range of needs – including families with members who are elderly, disabled or have caring responsibilities. Families often live in the same home on public sites for many years. For Gypsy/Travellers, more accessible accommodation can enable older and disabled people to stay with their wider community, continuing to access support from family in accommodation that meets their cultural needs.

We also want to make sure that the language used in the Housing for Varying Needs design guide is presented in a respectful, positive and non-discriminatory way. It is acknowledged that some of the language referenced in the current guide – which relates, for example, to a person’s health and abilities – is outdated and may cause offence. With this in mind, we would wish to highlight that the language contained within Part 1 of the current Housing for Varying Needs design guide is replicated in full within this consultation paper.

Scope of this consultation

The scope of this consultation is twofold.

Firstly, it proposes updates to Part 1 of the Housing for Varying Needs design guide to enhance the accessibility, adaptability and usability of (a) homes delivered through the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme and (b) accommodation delivered by local authorities through the Scottish Government’s Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund (or subsequent funding).

Secondly, it introduces the principles which we consider underpin the all-tenure Scottish Accessible Homes Standard – as well as setting out our proposals for updates to building standards and guidance which will apply to (a) all new build homes and (b) homes delivered through the conversion of non-residential buildings into housing.

Part 2 of the Housing for Varying Needs design guide

Most older and disabled people live in homes without integral support and want to continue to do so for as long as they can. This reflects the long term shift away from people needing to move to where the care is to a more person-centred, delivered at home approach.

We are not therefore proposing any updates to Part 2 of the Housing for Varying Needs design guide which provides guidance on housing with integral support (with a focus on shared or group home settings, along with shared communal spaces). We would confirm however that the housing element of any project which contains integral support could still be supported through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, albeit that the cost of the other elements of the project would continue to require to be financed from an alternative funding source.

Consultation documents

This consultation package comprises the following elements:

• Proposed updates to Part 1 of the Housing for Varying Needs design guide (Chapter 2)
• The Scottish Accessible Homes Standard (Chapter 3)
• Impact assessments (Chapter 4)
• Sections 1 to 20 of Part 1 of the current Housing for Varying Needs design guide (Annexes A to T)
• Housing for Varying Needs – Summaries of design criteria example (Annex U)
• Partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (Annex V), and
• Respondent Information Form (Annex W).

Scottish Government consultation process

Consultation is an essential part of the policy-making process. It gives us the opportunity to consider your opinion and expertise on a proposed area of work.

You can find all our consultations online. Each consultation details the issues under consideration, as well as providing a way for you to give us your views – either online, by email or by post.

Responses will be analysed and used as part of the decision-making process, along with a range of other available information and evidence. We will publish a report of this analysis for every consultation. Depending on the nature of the consultation exercise the responses received may:

• indicate the need for policy development or review
• inform the development of a particular policy
• help decisions to be made between alternative policy proposals, or
• be used to finalise legislation before it is implemented.

While details of particular circumstances described in a response to a consultation exercise may usefully inform the policy process, consultation exercises cannot address individual concerns and comments, which should be directed to the relevant public body.

Responding to this consultation

We are inviting responses to this consultation by 21^st December 2023. Please respond to this consultation using the Scottish Government’s consultation hub, Citizen Space. You can save and return to your responses while the consultation is still open. Please ensure that consultation responses are submitted before the closing date of 21^st December 2023.

If you are unable to respond using our consultation hub, please complete the Respondent Information Form and the consultation questionnaire and return to:

Email: accessiblehousingconsultation@gov.scot

Handling your response

If you respond using the consultation hub, you will be directed to the ‘About You’ page before submitting your response. Please indicate how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are content for your response to published. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential and we will treat it accordingly.

If you are unable to respond via Citizen Space, please complete and return the Respondent Information Form. If you ask for your response not to be published, we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under that Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

To find out how we handle your personal data, please see our privacy policy.

Next steps in the process

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us. Responses will be published where we have been given permission to do so, and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material. Responses will be made available to the public at: Scottish Government consultations. If you use Citizen Space to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email. An analysis report will also be made available.

The Scottish Government will review responses to the consultation and the issues raised during engagement with stakeholders to inform development of (a) the update to Part 1 of the Housing for Varying Needs design guide and (b) changes to published standards and guidance set under Building Regulations.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to:

Email: accessiblehousingconsultation@gov.scot