The puzzle of new housing for disabled people

The law of 11 February 2005 in favour of equal rights and opportunities for people with disabilities required that all new constructions be accessible to people with disabilities. In 2018, the Elan law reduced this objective to 20%.

The other 80% of new housing must be "scalable": with "simple work", they must be able to be "adapted", for example by knocking down non-load-bearing partitions, explains Jean-Charles du Bellay, accessibility specialist at the French Building Federation (FFB).

Old residential properties are not subject to any obligations.

"New housing only represents 1% of the total housing stock. This amounts to increasing the stock of adapted housing by 0,2% per year, it's starving," estimates Nicolas Mérille, accessibility manager of the APF France Handicaps association.

The aim of this regulation, which has been in place for 20 years, is to allow disabled or elderly people "not to be forced to live in nursing homes and medico-social establishments, but to be able to choose to live at home", he argues. And independent living "costs society less than life in an institution", he argues.

Discrimination

More than 220.000 households with a disabled person live in housing with accessibility problems, according to the Foundation for Housing for the Disadvantaged (formerly the Abbé Pierre Foundation) in its annual report published on Tuesday.

More precarious than average, these people face significant difficulties in accessing housing and are victims of discrimination. "In the private rental sector, there is discrimination at all levels," stressed Manuel Domergue, director of studies at the foundation, explaining that many owners refuse rental applications, particularly out of fear of having to adapt their accommodation to the disability.

"There is a form of house arrest due to the inability to find suitable accommodation," he said.

"In the old buildings, it's impossible: the doors are too narrow, the elevators too small," Alexandre, a quadriplegic since an accident at the age of 15, told AFP. He spoke with two developers about buying an apartment off-plan.

"They didn't want to install an automatic front door because that would have increased the condominium charges. Nor did they want to install French windows that were different from the neighbours' because that would have distorted the façade," explains the 26-year-old computer science student.

Elevator failure

To be included in the quota of new housing considered accessible, properties must have wide corridors, a large bedroom so that a wheelchair can turn around, and a large toilet and bathroom.

One of the obstacles for developers is economic: making housing accessible represents an additional cost of between 2 and 5%, according to the FFB.

Another obstacle, this time technical: since 2021, regulations require the installation by default of step-free, "Italian-style" showers, to facilitate wheelchair access. But building professionals and insurers fear that this solution will create claims, due to difficulties in implementation.

Builders also argue that accessible housing is not necessarily purchased by people in wheelchairs, who make up 1,5% of the population, and may not be suitable for the needs of other groups.

"The 20% of 100% accessible housing is very rarely sold to disabled people," says Didier Bellier-Ganière, general delegate of the Federation of Real Estate Developers, who explains that owners sometimes make modifications at their own expense, such as installing a bathtub rather than a "walk-in" shower.

For associations, the account is not there.

The Handicaps Collective, bringing together associations, wants to return to 100% accessible housing.

And accessible housing does not exclude daily difficulties: fire doors that are too heavy, broken elevators... 1,7 million people have had an elevator breakdown lasting more than 24 hours in the last three months, according to the Foundation for Housing the Disadvantaged.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.