Chris Skillings, who has a hearing and visual impairment and mild cerebral palsy, decided he wanted to fly the nest at 26. Skillings’ mum did some research and found the home ownership for people with long-term disabilities (HOLD) scheme.
Oxfordshire-based housing association Advance describes itself as the “foremost” provider of the HOLD scheme. Skillings, now 40, bought a flat through Advance under the scheme that was close to his parents’ home in Worcester.
He said, “I have my independence and I can do the things I want when I want.”
Skillings now works part-time as an administrator and volunteers for Advance. He says he enjoys the two roles and has “gained confidence in independent travel using the rail network to get to meetings”.
The government-backed HOLD scheme offers the chance to buy a home on the open market through shared ownership. The disabled person buys an initial share worth between 10% and 75% with a housing association buying the remainder. Homeowners can buy more shares to reduce the rent.
Advance says the scheme gives people the power to decide where they live, the type of house they live in and if they live alone or with others.
The housing association contributes its own funding to the scheme along with a grant from Homes England, which pays for new affordable housing in England. If a grant from Homes England is not available, it can be replaced by funding from family or friends or a Trust.
In a report in 2020 by charity Learning Disability England and the Housing LIN the HOLD scheme was described as “very positive” and “life changing for some people”.
The Finding Our Own Way Home report said the “HOLD programme should be made available to a larger number of people”.
But how far could the scheme, which Advance operates in parts of England, help address the shortage in suitable accommodation for people with autism and learning disabilities stuck in assessment and treatment units (ATUs)?
Director of housing at Advance Ian Gilders said: “Good quality housing, with the right kind of individualised support, is proven to be a successful and cost-effective way of supporting people with learning disabilities and autism to live full and meaningful lives in their communities; close to friends and family; able to make choices and pursue their goals.”
Gilders said the HOLD scheme is one way to fill the gap in suitable housing and his firm has enabled more than 700 people to become part-owners of their homes. But he warned that when it comes to making properties available to people stuck in ATUs, the HOLD scheme is the “tip of the iceberg”.
He added that there are not enough providers offering the HOLD scheme to meet the demand and home ownership does not suit everyone — more rental properties are also needed.
Policy changes and “new funding arrangements” are needed to make it “easier to develop homes specifically for people who have learning disabilities and autism”, added Gilders.
Following the Winterbourne View scandal successive governments focused on getting people out of hospitals to be cared for in their own communities. The scandal broke in 2011 after a BBC Panorama documentary exposed abuse at the now closed private hospital near Bristol.
It created the stimulus for the government’s transforming care programme designed to vastly reduce the role of ATUs.
Official figures show the number of people with autism and learning disabilities in mental health hospitals in England stood at 2,020 at the end of January, which is down by 30 per cent from 2,885 in March 2015.
Transforming care aimed to get everyone inappropriately placed in institutions back in the community by June 2014.
After this, failed successive governments began setting less ambitious targets, which they have also failed to hit. And a lack of suitable supported housing has consistently been seen as one of the major obstacles to transforming care.
Jayne Knight, who runs housing and learning disability social enterprise My Great Life, was involved in setting up the first shared ownership property under the HOLD scheme 26 years ago.
Knight said the scheme has allowed many people to buy their own home and “live a very comfortable life in an area of their choice”.
She said it can be used to prevent people ending up in mental health units and help them leave hospitals, but it needs to be brought “up to date to make it far more widely used”.
Knight’s not-for-profit group advises on creating and providing supported housing for people with learning disabilities who want to live in their own home.
She said a deposit of around £20,000 is needed under the HOLD scheme and some councils have been “creative” about helping people find this. But she said getting grants is a “postcode lottery” because a housing association has to be involved to apply and not all parts of the country are covered.
In addition, the grant only allows people to buy a property of up to £250,000 and, at times, this is not enough in affluent areas.
Finance firm My Safe Home helps set up mortgages under the HOLD scheme and describes itself as the UK’s leading provider of support for people with profound disabilities who want to buy their own home.
Managing director David Abbey said his firm has “helped a number of people move on from hospital settings to homes of their own, closer to their family and friends and at the heart of their local community”.
He added, “This often makes a huge difference to the individual’s mental and physical health and having a home that they’ve chosen and where they can remain for the rest of their lives gives them the future they really deserve.”
Learning Disability Today asked the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for a comment, but they did not respond.
