Life changing win for those with disabilities in Southwark

We’re all very well acquainted with the fact that life can be difficult in Britain for those of us at the lower end of the economic spectrum. All the more if you happen to have disabilities, as council tenants in the London Borough of Southwark know too well. The borough council for some wild reason had a policy meaning that disabled tenants could not bid on any properties that needed accessibility adaptations, quite a limiting policy considering the state of many of the country’s homes!

Enter Michelle King, a 50 year old disabled mother. She had been living in a second floor flat for nearly 25 years and trying to get alternative accommodation for almost as long. Michelle uses crutches and a wheelchair to get around leaving her unable to climb the 30 stairs leading to her flat without great difficulty and effectively a prisoner in her own home. 

So Michelle joined ACORN. ACORN Southwark is one of our oldest and strongest branches in London and they leapt into action to defend her. The members, including Michelle, organised a campaign which led to them taking direct action and demonstrating in front of Southwark Council offices, demanding Michelle be rehoused in suitable accessible housing and an end to the discriminatory policy. 

Michelle said “It’s very frustrating and stressful. If I return to the housing waiting list, I won’t get a property. They don’t put down the measurements of properties on the bidding list so I would look at a property, think it would be good enough and then find it’s too small and it’s not accessible for me. They [the council] will use that against me.”

Thankfully, the campaign was a success, with Michelle being rehoused and Southwark council ending their policy, making housing in Southwark much more accessible for the 18,000 with disabilities in the borough.