HOUSING THE DISABLED

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31221, 19 November 1966, Page 2

HOUSING THE DISABLED

At least 95 per cent of housing for the disabled in Britain was “along residential hostel lines,” Mrs P. A. Tipping told the Christchurch branch of the National Council of Women on Thursday.

Mrs Tipping is convener of the branch’s housing committee. She recently returned to Christchurch from Britain and the United States. During her stay in England she inspected accommodation for the elderly and the disabled. She concluded that authorities in Britain thought it important to keep the disabled independent as long as possible.

"Hostel accommodation is costly and women especially want to be independent for as long as they can,” said Mrs Tipping. Mrs Tipping saw one exception to hostel accommodation. This was a pilot scheme in Birmingham where a society had built three bungalows occupied by three handicapped mothers and their families.

The bungalows were designed to make housework as easy as possible and included sockets in each room for a vaccum pipe. The dust was collected in a bag in the basement and emptied by an active member of the family.

Mrs Tipping said it was thought that homes for the disabled should be included tn the new housing developments.

While in Oxford, Mrs Tipping met members of a study group which next year will present a report on “Gaps in the Welfare State.” She was told that some of the most obvious and alarming gaps concerned housing. The group had found a great need for “granny” flats for the aged to be built near shops and the homes of occupants’ families. Homes for pensioners, which could be modified for housing the disabled, should also be possible, said Mrs Tipping. Mrs Tipping attended a meeting of the Oxford branch of the council and found that meetings were much more informal than in New Zealand. Members met in each other’s homes. Any woman could join, unlike New Zealand, where members were from affiliated societies.